UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


L 


GIFT   OF   CAPT.   AND    MRS. 
PAUL  MCBRIDE  PERIGORD 


'•^SVVY  of  CAUFUKWj 

AT 

LOS  ANGELES 

LIBRARY 


THE  INDUSTRIAL  CONFLICT 


The 

Industrial  Conflict 

A  SERIES  OF  CHAPTERS  ON 
PRESENT-DAY    CONDITIONS 


DR.  SAMUEL  G.  SMITH 

Department  of  Sociology, 
University^^  of    Minnesota 


:R>i!Mi 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming   H.   llevell  Company 

London        and        Edinburoh 


i  4  4  '^ ')  7 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


SECOND  EDITION 


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CONTENTS 

I 

THE   PROBLEM   STATED 

PAGE 
Real  Conflict  Between  Employer  and  Em- 
ployed.— Letters  from  Labour  Leaders  and 
Large  Employers  of  Labour. — Mutual  Interest 
in  Large  and  Cheap  Production. — Conflict  Aris- 
ing from  Distribution  of  Product 7 

II 

LETTERS    FROM    LABOUR    LEADERS 

Preliminary    Statement. — National    Leaders. 

Local  Leaders 15 

III 

PRIMARY  DEMANDS   OF  LABOUR 

Liberty  of  Organisation. — Shorter  Hours. — 

Larger  Wages. — The  Closed  Shop 50 

IV 
SECONDARY  DEMANDS  OF  LABOUR 
Unorganised   Labour. — Woman   and   Labour. 
Public      Sanitation. — The      Personal      Touch. — 
Child  Labour  Problem. — The  Industrial  Democ- 
racy          83 

V 

LETTERS  FROM  EMPLOYERS 

Preliminary    Statement. — Importance  of   the 

.Writers. — Business  Interests  Uppermost 100 


CONTENTS 
VI 
rUIMAKY   DEMANDS  OF  EMPLOYERS 
Tho  Tolnt  of  View. — Nature  of  Credit. — Su- 
porlnti-ndcme. — Assaults  on    Persons   and   Prop- 
erty.— Violation  of  Contracts 133 

VII 
SECONDARY  DEMANDS  OF  EMPLOYERS 
Laltour  Leaders. — The  Sympathetic  Strike. — 
Discipline  in  the  Labour  Union. — Effort  for  Mo- 
nopoly.— Loyalty  to  the  Business. — The  Labour 
Press   153 

VIII 
THREE  PARTIES   IN  INTEREST 
Employers,     Employed,     Public. — The     Eco- 
nomic   Battle. — The    Common    Interest    in    Pro- 
duction.— Fallacy    of    Limited    Production. — Joy 
and  Integrity.— The  Rich  and  Flexible  World..     172 

IX 
THE  IMPROVED  MAN 

Social  and  Industrial  Education. — New  In- 
dustrial Ventures. — Increase  of  Wages  as  Capi- 
tal.— Economic  Value  of  Virtues. — Resources  of 
Religion    18G 

X 
WOULD   SOCIALISM  DO? 

Idealistic  Socialism.  Political  Socialism,  and 
Ecx)nomic  Socialism. — Exploitation  of  the  Work- 
ingman. — State  Ownei-ship  of  Means  of  Produc- 
tion.—  Functions  of  the  State.  —  Socialism 
InoflTeotlve. — .Vttatk  upon  the  Family. — Attack 
upon  the  Nation 201 


THE    PROBLEM    STATED 

Real  Conflict  between  Employer  and  Em- 
ployed— Letters  from  Labour  Leaders  and 
Large  Employers  of  Labour — Mutual  Interest 
in  Large  and  Cheap  Production — Conflict 
Arising  from  Distribution  of  Product. 

EoR  more  than  a  hundred  years  writers  in  various 
countries  have  been  discussing  questions  of  labour, 
production,  and  distribution;  but  there  still  re- 
mains something  to  be  said.  What  is  needed  is  a 
statement  in  clear  English  of  the  essential  facts  and 
fundamental  principles  involved  in  the  relations 
of  employer  and  employed.  We  are  in  the  midst 
of  a  time  of  great  upheaval.  Any  day  there  may 
be  actual  conflict  in  particular  trades,  and  every 
day  there  is  potential  conflict  in  all  the  trades. 
The  literature  of  the  subject  may  be  divided  into 
two  general  classes.  One  group  of  discussions,  the 
more  scientific  in  form  and  the  more  difficult  of 
comprehension,  considers  how  matters  would  go  on 
if  the  actual  working  world  were  such  a  place  as 
the  theoretical  economic  world  in  which  the  writer 
lives.     The   other   group   of   discussions   takes   a 


8         THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

brief  either  for  the  employer  or  the  employed,  and 
with  much  noise  and  fury  seeks  to  win  a  partisan 
verdict.  This  study  differs  from  all  that  has  been 
written  upon  the  question,  in  that  it  is  not  based 
upon  a  theoretic,  but  a  real  world,  and,  instead  of 
seeking  to  serve  some  theory,  endeavours  to  show 
the  actual  grounds  upon  whicli  the  whole  subject 
rests,  and,  rejecting  both  matters  of  method  and 
incidental  questions,  to  set  in  a  clear  light  the 
issues  involved. 

It  will  be  shown  that  there  is  a  real  conflict 
between  employer  and  employed  of  a  permanent 
nature.  If  this  be  true,  it  follows  that  the  ques- 
tions involved  cannot  be  settled  by  gentle  senti- 
ments or  brotherly  advice.  These  relations  are  a 
part  of  that  universal  struggle  for  existence  which, 
though  blackened  by  many  a  shadow  and  scarred 
by  many  a  defeat,  has  yet  worked  out  the  good 
and  the  glory  of  human  life.  All  higher  forms 
of  social  organisation  have  been  the  resultant  of 
struggle.  In  government,  these  struggles  lead  to- 
ward democracy;  in  religion,  they  conduct  toward 
freedom;  and  in  economics,  they  are  to  result  in 
the  emancipation  of  the  working  classes. 

It  is  perfectly  futile  to  seek  to  quiet  the  con- 
tending parties  by  assuring  them  that  there  is 


THE    PROBLEM    STATED  9 

no  ground  for  any  strife,  and  that  in  reality  the 
interests  of  master  and  man  are  precisely  identical. 
The  nature  of  the  conflict  may  be  briefly  stated. 
It  is  summed  up  in  the  question,  "  Who  shall  have 
the  surplus  result  of  labour  after  interest  and  rent, 
superintendence  and  the  maintenance  of  working- 
men  have  been  provided?"  Such  surplus  exists. 
This  is  manifest  by  the  increasing  wealth  of  the 
world,  and  may  be  easily  reinforced  by  study  of 
the  statistics  of  any  civilised  nation,  but  particu- 
larly results  of  labour  in  the  United  States,  Great 
Britain,  and  Germany.  This  surplus  has  always 
been  claimed  as  a  right  by  the  employers.  It  is 
the  denial  of  this  right  upon  the  part  of  organised 
workingmen  that  makes  the  conflict. 

A  partial  recognition  of  the  claims  of  working- 
men  is  sometimes  made  in  what  is  known  as  profit 
sharing,  but  so  long  as  profit  sharing  means  the 
distribution  of  such  a  part  of  the  profits  as  the 
employer  sees  fit  to  give  as  a  gratuity  to  the  men 
working  under  him,  it  differs  in  no  respect  from 
any  other  charity,  except  that  it  denies  the  most 
important  item  in  all  charity  work,  namely,  that 
giving  depends  not  upon  deserts,  but  upon  needs. 

In  order  that  my  discussion  might  have  a  real 
character,  I  determined  at  the  outset  to  secure  the 


10       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

co-operation  of  representative  men  in  its  prep- 
aration. Letters  were  sent  to  the  most  important 
labour  leaders  in  the  United  States,  asking  them  to 
state  briefly  but  definitely  what  it  is  the  working- 
men  want.  Similar  letters  were  sent  to  the  largest 
employers  of  labour  in  the  country,  asking  them 
to  state,  in  view  of  the  disturbances  in  the  labour 
world,  what  the  employers  want.  A  sufficient 
number  of  answers  was  received  to  make  the  letters 
a  valid  basis  for  the  present  state  of  opinion  in 
the  economic  world.  These  letters  are  printed  in 
this  study,  and  furnish  the  basis  of  the  discus- 
sion. Anyone  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  read 
two  or  throe  times  over  the  answers  of  each  of  the 
classes,  will  find  growing  upon  him  composite 
photographs  of  the  minds  of  the  employers  and 
the  employed  at  the  present  time.  He  will  be 
surprised  at  the  greater  scope  of  the  letters  from 
the  workingmen,  and  the  greater  vigour  in  their 
style.  This  composite  workingman  has  the  larger 
outlook  upon  life.  The  composite  employer  is 
more  urbane,  more  perplexed,  and  really  feels  him- 
self aggrieved  by  the  present  situation.  He  evi- 
dently feels,  however,  that  the  conflict  is  transitory, 
and  that  he  will  soon  be  victor.  The  writers  of 
these  letters  were  promised  that  their  names  should 


THE    PROBLEM    STATED  11 

not  be  used  when  their  letters  were  published,  in 
order  to  secure  them  from  annoyance,  but  chiefly 
in  order  to  secure  from  them  a  perfectly  frank 
statement  of  facts.  The  discussion  is  limited  by 
the  fact  that  the  letters  from  the  labour  people 
were  all  from  those  who  are  connected  with  labour 
organisations.  The  discussion  itself  will  show 
why  this  has  been  done.  The  employers  are  them- 
selves quite  as  well  organised  as  the  workingmen, 
and  their  organisations  seem  to  the  employers  of 
labour  very  important.  In  the  current  printers' 
strike  the  men  of  a  certain  shop  went  to  the  em- 
ployer and  said :  "  If  you  will  resign  from  your 
union,  we  will  resign  from  ours,  and  we  think 
with  such  a  man  as  you  are  we  can  get  along,"  but 
the  employer  declined  to  resign  from  his  union. 
This  is  a  very  significant  fact,  and  throws  a  flood 
of  light  upon  the  situation. 

I  have  steadily  adhered  to  the  opinion  that  what 
is  needed  is  to  lay  bare  primary  facts  rather  than 
to  discuss  temporary  methods.  Methods  must 
change  with  changing  economic  situations,  and 
with  the  advance  in  social  capacity,  but  so  long  as 
the  wage  system  lasts  there  are  certain  primary 
facts  which  will  not  change,  and  with  these  the 
chief  interest  in  the  discussion  must  lie.     In  the 


12       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

May,  190G,  number  of  the  Annals  of  the  American 
Academxj.  Jlr.  Beverly  Smith,  Secretary  of  the 
Employing  Lithographers'  National  League,  pre- 
sented an  article  on  the  mutual  government  plan 
of  preventing  industrial  conflicts.  It  was  a  nicely 
worked  out  scheme  for  voluntary  arbitration,  and 
certainly  promised  well.  ]\Ir.  Beverly  Smith  evi- 
dently thought  that  if  it  were  imitated  in  the  other 
trades,  industrial  peace  would  be  near  at  hand. 
Within  three  months  from  the  time  that  the  article 
appeared,  the  lithographers'  strike  was  an  accom- 
plished fact.  Nice  schemes,  that  sound  well  and 
are  really  very  reasonable,  are  easily  torn  up  by 
the  conflicting  passions  of  men,  which  are  by  no 
means  reasonable,  and  yet  which  constitute  the 
strongest  force  in  human  histor}'. 

The  following,  it  seems  to  me,  are  the  most  im- 
portant facts  revealed  by  present-day  study  of  the 
labour  question: 

1.  There  is  a  mutual  interest  between  the  work- 
ingman  and  his  employer.  That  mutual  interest 
consists  in  securing  the  largest  and  cheapest 
production  of  useful  commodities.  "Whatever 
methods  of  combination  either  of  capital  or  labour, 
whatever  location  of  plant  or  methods  of  produc- 
tion lend  themselves  to  economic  production,  are 


THE    PEOBLEM    STATED  18 

in  the  long  run  sure  of  adoption.  Large  and 
cheap  production  gives  the  largest  surplus  after 
interest  and  rent,  superintendence  and  mainte- 
nance are  paid. 

2.  The  adverse  interest  of  emploj'er  and  em- 
ployed is  in  the  distribution  of  the  product  arising 
from  their  mutual  industrial  co-operation.  This 
struggle  for  the  spoils  of  labour  is  precisely  the 
same  question  as  the  struggle  between  tribes  and 
nations,  and  the  struggle  within  tribes  and  nations 
of  king  and  priest,  ruler  and  ruled,  and  of  the 
various  social  classes  and  social  interests. 

3.  The  adverse  interest  between  employer  and 
employed  results  necessarily  in  conflict.  All 
forms  of  social  organisation  are  the  recorded 
group  judgment  of  the  result  of  struggle.  New 
social  institutions  arise  as  the  result  of  new 
struggles.  They  are  victories  made  lawful.  The 
social  interest  in  this  conflict  is  very  great.  That 
social  interest  is  sufficient  to  insist  that  the  con- 
flict must  take  place  under  rules.  It  seems  appar- 
ent that  the  organisations,  both  of  employers  and 
of  employed,  are  in  the  interests  of  lawful  combat. 

4.  In  the  last  analysis,  labour  conflicts  must  be 
carried  on  under  rules  formulated  by  the  State. 
The   State,   as  the  most  authoritative  organ  of 


14       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT' 

social  lifp,  must  be  dcpcncled  upon  to  secure  jus- 
tice to  all  parties.  In  primitive  savagery  private 
vengeance  was  the  sole  check  upon  crime.  When 
organised  society  became  strong,  it  became  the 
arbiter  of  private  disputes.  It  is  not  a  necessary 
deduction  from  this  principle  that  compulsory 
arbitration  is  the  only  or  the  proper  method  to  be 
pursued.  Compulsory  arbitration  has  grave  diflB- 
culties  which  are  not  to  be  here  discussed.  It  may, 
however,  be  said  that  quasi-public  corporations, 
such  as  railroads,  may  well  be  placed  under  restric- 
tions not  applicable  to  private  corporations.  The 
method  of  control,  and  the  extent  of  control,  may 
well  vary  according  to  varying  conditions.  The 
essential  principle  is  that  both  employers  and  em- 
ployed, corporations  and  private  interests,  must 
alike  bow  to  the  majesty  of  the  State,  which  rep- 
resents the  final  social  and  moral  judgments  of 
the  entire  people.  I  am  not  without  hope  that 
the  discussion  which  follows  will  throw  some  light 
upon  the  primary  facts  and  principles  involved  in 
current  Economic  conditions. 


n 

LETTERS  FEOM  LABOUR  LEADERS 

Preliminary  Statement — National  Leaders — 
Local  Leaders. 

The  following  letters  from  leaders  of  labour  in 
various  parts  of  the  country  are  offered  not  for  their 
strength  of  argument  or  their  fulness  of  discus- 
sion, but  as  the  testimony  of  witnesses  who  are  quite 
competent  to  state  certain  facts  which  are  very 
much  needed  in  order  to  arrive  at  sound  conclu- 
sions. The  unsigned  letters  are,  from  some  points 
of  view,  even  more  important  than  those  which  are 
signed.  The  writers  have  immunity  from  any 
possible  criticism  either  by  their  associates  in  the 
labour  ranks  or  by  their  employers.  There  is  no 
stimulus  to  pride  which  might  seek  the  production 
of  letters  well  worth  reading.  The  immediate, 
and,  I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  the  unpremeditated 
character  of  the  letters,  while  a  possible  source  of 
criticism  from  some  points  of  view,  precisely  adds 
to  their  value  for  the  purposes  of  this  discussion. 
The  things  that  lie  upon  the  surface  of  the  mind, 

15 


Ifi       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

the  mental  resultant  of  years  of  experience,  and, 
oftentimes,  conflict,  are  precisely  those  issues  which 
we  wish  defined.  It  is  not  the  labour  grievance 
that  may  be  dug  up  by  the  man  who  takes  time  to 
think,  but  that  thing  of  which  he  is  readiest  to 
speak,  and  which  he  can  most  quickly  formulate, 
whicii  gives  us  the  best  material.  It  is  the  quick 
answer  to  the  unexpected  question  that  the  lawj^er 
finds  to  be  the  very  pearl  of  price  in  testimony  in 
the  court  room.  Some  of  the  letters  might  have 
been  amended  to  give  them  better  literary  form, 
but  it  has  seemed  wiser  to  present  the  statements 
substantially  as  they  came  from  the  hands  of  the 
writers.  A  few  unimportant  sentences  have  been 
omitted,  but  otherwise  the  statements  represent 
correctly  the  present  mind  of  the  writers. 

Another  thing  which  adds  value  to  these  wit- 
nesses is  that  they  represent  different  parts  of  the 
country,  and,  most  of  all,  they  represent  different 
positions  in  the  ranks  of  labour.  It  is  not  the 
voice  of  the  national  leaders  alone  that  is  heard, 
but  men  of  importance  in  local  fields  speak,  and 
three  or  four  of  no  importance  at  all  except  to 
themselves  and  their  families  and  a  narrow  circle 
of  friends.  But  these  last  are  as  important  as  the 
others,  because  they  reveal  the  point  of  view  of  the 


LETTERS  FROM  LABOUR  LEADERS  17 

inconspicuous  man.  The  answers  cover  a  very 
wide  range  of  topics.  They  make  many  demands, 
and  yet  it  will  be  seen  that,  with  one  or  two  ex- 
ceptions, the  letter  writers  are  at  substantial  accord 
with  one  another.  This  is  a  very  significant  fact. 
It  shows  that  the  ranks  of  labour  must  not  be  re- 
garded as  a  disorganised  mob,  if  they  have  not 
become  a  thoroughly  well-disciplined  army.  They 
are  not  without  important  points  of  intellectual 
agreement,  if  they  have  not  yet  come  to  that  full 
self-consciousness  that  belongs  to  those  who  know 
their  strength  and  are  certain  of  the  way  in  which 
they  intend  to  use  it.  There  is  one  limitation  in 
these  letters  that  is  very  significant,  and  that  is 
the  absence  of  self-examination  and  self-criticism. 
A  single  writer  indicates  that  workingmen  have 
not  yet  developed  to  its  fullest  extent  the  sense  of 
need  for  organisation.  This  writer  is  as  the  voice 
of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness  to  those  outside 
the  ranks  to  come  into  the  fold  of  organised 
labour.  Perhaps,  however,  it  is  only  fair  to  add 
that  the  form  of  the  question  propounded  and  the 
use  to  be  made  of  the  answers,  did  not  indicate 
the  line  of  reflection  which  would  have  produced 
suggestions  as  to  the  need  of  development,  breadth, 
culture,  character,  and  capacity,  in  order  to  secure 


IS       TITE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

the  results  required.  The  one  suggestion  in  re- 
gard to  social  reorganisation  is  one  that  looks  to- 
■\vard  a  socialistic  form  of  the  State,  and  aside  from 
reference  to  the  tenement-house  question,  there  is 
almost  no  discussion  of  the  immediate  thing  that 
might  be  done  through  organised  society  to  benefit 
the  working  classes.  For  the  most  part,  the  letters 
show  a  sense  of  aloofness  that  is  very  marked.  The 
forces  of  labour  are  regarded  as  standing  over 
against  the  forces  of  capital,  and  as  outside  the 
range  of  sympathy  and  interest  that  belong  to  the 
general  social  group.  The  silences  of  the  letters 
will  be  almost  as  significant  to  the  thoughtful 
reader  as  the  things  that  are  demanded,  but  these 
silences  are  founded  upon  limitations  of  economic 
tlieory  and  a  lack  of  perception  of  the  solidarity  of 
human  interests,  which  is  quite  as  noticeable  in  the 
letters  from  the  employers  as  in  those  from  the 
workingmen. 

MR.  SAMUEL  GOMPERS, 
President  The  American  Federation  of  Labour. 

"  What  does  Labour  want  ?  It  wants  the  earth 
and  the  fulness  thereof.  There  is  nothing  too 
precious,  there  is  nothing  too  beautiful,  too  lofty, 
too  ennobling,  unless  it  is  within  the  scope  and 


LETTEKS  FEOM  LABOUR  LEADERS  19 

comprehension  of  Labour's  aspiration  and  wants 
To  be  more  specific,  the  expressed  demands  of 
labour  are:  First  and  foremost,  a  reduction  of 
the  hours  of  labour  to  eight  hours  to-day — fewer 
to-morrow.  Steam  power  has  been  applied  on  a 
most  extensive  scale.  The  improvement  of  tools, 
the  consequent  division  of  labour,  the  force  of 
electricity  is  now  applied  to  an  enormous  extent. 
.  .  .  The  tendency  is  to  employ  the  machines  con- 
tinuously (the  worker  has  been  made  part  of  the 
machine),  and  the  direction  has  been  in  the  line  of 
endeavouring  to  make  the  wealth  producers  work 
longer  hours. 

"  In  every  city  and  town  throughout  this  broad 
land  of  plenty,  gaunt  figures,  hungry  men  and 
women  with  blanched  faces,  and  children  having 
the  marks  of  premature  age  and  emaciated  condi- 
tions indelibly  impressed  upon  their  countenances, 
stalk  through  the  streets  and  highways. 

"  We  demand  a  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labour, 
which  would  give  a  due  share  of  work  and  wages 
to  the  reserve  army  of  labour,  and  eliminate  many 
of  the  worst  abuses  of  the  industrial  system. 

"  Labour  demands  and  insists  upon  the  right  to 
organise  for  self  and  mutual  protection, 

"  The  toilers  want  the  abrogation  of  all  laws 


20       THE    INDtJSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

discriminating  against  them  in  the  exercise  of 
those  functions  which  make  our  organisations,  in 
the  economic  struggle,  a  factor  and  not  a  farce. 
We  demand  equality  before  the  law  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  theory. 

"  And  by  no  means  the  least  demand  of  the 
Trade  Unions  is  for  adequate  wag^s.  The  Trade 
Union,  taking  normal  conditions  as  its  point  of 
view,  regards  the  workingman  as  the  producer  of 
the  wealth  of  the  world,  and  demands  that  wages, 
as  long  as  the  wa^e  system  may  last,  shall  be  suf- 
ficient to  enable  him  to  support  his  family  in  a 
manner  consistent  with  existing  civilisation,  and 
all  that  is  required  for  maintaining  and  improving 
physical  and  mental  health  and  the  self-respect 
of  himian  beings. 

"  Eender  our  lives,  while  working,  safe  and 
healthfid  as  modem  science  demonstrates  it  is 
possible.  Save  our  children  in  their  infancy  from 
being  forced  into  the  maelstrom  of  wage  slavery. 
See  to  it  that  they  are  not  dwarfed  in  body  and 
mind,  or  brought  to  a  premature  death  by  early 
drudgery.  Give  them  the  sunshine  of  the  school 
and  playground,  instead  of  the  factory,  the  mine, 
and  the  workshop. 

"  We  want  more  school  houses  and  less  jails ; 


LETTEES    FEOM    LABOUR    LEADERS     21 

more  books  and  less  arsenals;  more  learning  and 
less  vice;  more  constant  work  and  less  crime; 
more  leisure  and  less  greed.  These  are  the  de- 
mands made  by  the  labourer  upon  modern  society, 
and  in  their  consideration  is  involved  the  fate  of 
civilisation." 


WILLIAM  D.  HUBER, 

President  The  United  BrotherJwod  of  Carpenters  and 
Joiners. 

"  Your  note  of  the  21st  in  which  you  ask  for  a 
'  brief '  on  '  Wliat  the  workingmen  want/  is  re- 
ceived, and  it  affords  me  a  great  pleasure  to  assist 
you  with  my  little  mite,  which  I  hope  will  be  ac- 
ceptable to  you. 

"To  begin,  I  say  to  you  in  all  sincerity  and 
candour  that  the  workingmen  want  the  eight- 
hour  day.  Not  because  it  will  give  them  more 
opportunity  and  time  to  spend  in  gin  mills  and 
grog  shops,  but  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  gives 
the  younger  generation  growing  up  a  better  op- 
portunity to  educate  themselves,  and  thus  assume 
the  duties  of  honourable  American  citizenship. 

"  The  organised  workingmen  want  the  closed 
shop.     The  only  commodity  we  have  to  sell  is  our 


22       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

labour,  and  I  think  we  have  the  right  to  sa)^  to 
whom  that  labour  shall  be  sold,  how  it  shall  be 
sold,  and  in  selling,  who  shall  be  our  competitors 
and  who  shall  be  our  co-workers. 

"  We  want  law  and  order ;  we  want  our  federal, 
state  and  local  statutes  enforced;  but  in  times  of 
peace  we  don't  want,  neither  will  we  stand  for, 
'  government  by  injunction/ 

"  We  want  the  elimination  of  child  slavery,  one 
of  the  greatest  commercial  evils  that  ever  black- 
ened the  name  of  our  fair  republic.  To  think  of 
tots  not  in  their  '  teens '  working  and  slaving  from 
ten  to  twelve  hours  a  day,  in  the  offices  and  fac- 
tories, the  mills  and  shops,  making  themselves 
prematurely  old  men  and  women,  being  thrown 
into  contact  with  older  heads  who,  sometimes,  I 
am  sorry  to  say,  are  not  choice  in  their  language ! 
This  bodes  ill  for  the  rising  generation,  and  it  is 
enough  to  make  the  blood  boil  in  the  veins  of  any 
American  to  see  these  little  children  dragging 
themselves  wearily  homeward  when  their  tasks  are 
completed. 

"  And  yet  we  hear  many  '  captains  of  industry ' 
say  that  '  commercial  industries,  the  growth  of  the 
country,  has  made  necessary  the  emplojTnent  of 
children  on  certain  work/  and  that  it  is  due  to 


LETTEES  FEOM  LABOUR  LEADERS  23 

conditions  over  which  they  have  no  control.  If 
such  be  the  case — if  Mammon,  greed,  avarice,  are 
to  be  predominating  influences  in  this  country,  if 
the  aristocrats  are  going  to  sacrifice  the  children 
of  the  republic  for  the  benefit  of  their  class,  that 
they  may  buy  a  few  more  automobiles,  take  a  few 
more  trips  to  the  old  country,  send  their  children 
to  colleges,  educate  them  to  hate  the  masses,  in- 
stead of  teaching  them  to  extend  the  helping  hand 
to  their  less  fortunate  brethren,  then,  if  the  above 
is  going  to  be  permitted  to  obtain,  I  for  one 
would  sanction  and  endorse  '  race  suicide ' ;  I 
don't  believe  we  should  bring  children  into  this 
world  and  confront  them  with  abject  slavery,  as  is 
now  the  rule. 

"  Our  Saviour  said,  '  Suffer  little  children  to 
come  unto  me,'  but  how  can  we  expect  the  human 
slaves  to  take  an  interest  in  the  spiritual  world 
when  they  are  kept  at  the  drudgery  in  the  places 
mentioned  before  for  six  days  in  the  week. 

"  Happily,  however,  these  conditions  are  being 
looked  into,  fought  against,  and  the  elimination  of 
them  is  being  championed,  not  only  by  the  trade 
unionists,  the  thinking  people,  the  people  believ- 
ing in  a  square  deal,  but  last,  and  by  no  means 
least,   the   ministers,   who   are   rendering   valiant 


24       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

service  in  this  respect,  and  I  am  only  too  pleased 
to  assist  you  in  any  way  you  may  ask." 


JOHN  MITCHELL 
Tresident  The  United  Mine  Workers  of  America. 

"  Immigration  should  be  restricted  for  the  pro- 
tection of  American  labour  as  it  is  to-day.  The 
men  who  are  now  employed  in  our  mines  and 
factories  should  be  safeguarded  against  the  new 
arrivals  who  are  willing  to  step  into  their  places 
for  lower  wages.  This  seems  to  be  one  of  the 
important  reasons  for  a  reform  in  this  branch  of 
our  national  policy. 

"  I  believe  that  the  educational  qualification  for 
the  admission  of  the  immigrant  should  be  raised. 
He  should  be  able  to  read  and  write  his  native 
language  reasonably  well.  Such  a  restriction 
would  give  us  a  better  class  of  immigrants  than 
we  get  now,  and  a  class  less  likely  to  swell  the 
ranks  of  too  cheap  labour. 

"  Besides  demanding  the  educational  qualifica- 
tion, we  ought  to  require  of  these  immigrants  that 
they  bring  enough  to  transport  them  to  whatever 
section  of  the  country  offers  the  greatest  advan- 
tages to  them." 


LETTERS  FROM  LABOUR  LEADERS  25 

W.  S.  STONE, 
Grand  Chief  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers. 

"  What  the  workingmen  want  more  than  any- 
thing else  at  present  is  shorter  hours  and  com- 
pensation commensurate  with  the  services  they 
perform.  Under  our  high  pressure  of  living,  men 
wear  out  much  quicker  than  they  used  to,  and  in 
order  to  provide  for  the  years  when  they  can  earn 
nothing,  it  is  necessary  for  them  to  receive  suf- 
ficient to  enable  them  to  live  in  a  respectable  way 
and  still  put  something  away  for  a  rainy  day. 
Under  the  long  hours  which  they  now  put  in,  it 
leaves  them  no  margin  of  time  for  reading  or  the 
cultivation  of  the  mind,  and  there  is  more  in  life 
than  just  eating  and  sleeping  and  working.  There 
also  needs  to  be  developed  a  general  s3Tiipathy 
between  the  employer  and  the  employed.  In  this 
age  of  the  world  man  is  considered  nothing  more 
than  a  machine.  He  is  not  looked  upon  as  a 
brother.  "We  realise  that  there  must  always  be 
those  that  toil  with  the  hands  and  those  that  toil 
with  the  brain.  One  cannot  get  along  without  the 
other,  but  this  labour  should  be  co-operative,  and 
kindly  feeling  should  exist  between  the  two,  in- 
stead of  which  we  have  division  and  strife,  the 


26       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

one  oppressing  and  the  other  resenting.  What  we 
need  most  of  all,  in  all  classes,  is  a  higher  type  of 
individual  development,  and  in  order  to  get  this, 
both  sides  must  concede  something." 

CORNELIUS   GUINEY, 

Editor  The  Minnesota  Union  Advocate. 

"You  ask  me  to  state  my  understanding  of 
what  workingmen  want.  I  will  confine  myself  to 
a  few  of  the  most  immediate  and  most  essential  of 
those  demands  which  the  present  generation  of 
union  workingmen  and  women  expect  to  see  real- 
ised in  their  own  time. 

"  They  want  nothing  which  is  not  theirs  by 
right  of  natural  law.  Nor  do  they  want  anything 
that  they  cannot  command  through  unity  of  ac- 
tion among  them.  A  more  reasonable  proportion 
than  they  have  ever  yet  received  of  the  wealth 
created  by  their  labour  and  skill  is  a  prime  de- 
mand of  the  modern  working  man  and  woman. 
What  that  proportion  is  can  best  be  indicated  by 
the  shameful  disproportion  now  existing  between 
what  they  get  and  what  the  exploiters  of  their 
labour  get. 

"  As  a  prime  requirement  of  this  they  want  to  be 


LETTEES    FEOM    LAEOUR    LEADERS     27 

secure  in  their  right  under  the  prevailing  indus- 
trial system  to  bargain  for  the  sale  of  their  labour 
on  the  collective  principle.  This  want  is  funda- 
mental; and  with  it  goes  the  right  to  strike  in 
enforcement  of  their  existing  demands. 

"  They  want  to  prevent  the  members  of  the 
judicial  bench,  most  of  whom  are  the  representa- 
tives of  the  other  party  to  contracts  of  employ- 
ment, to  keep  their  hands  off.  They  want, 
therefore,  to  take  from  all  judges  the  power  to 
use  the  writ  of  injunction  in  the  interest  of  the 
other  contracting  party — a  practice  on  the  part 
of  the  American  judiciary  which  has  long  since 
become  and  still  remains  a  public  scandal  and  a 
crime. 

"  Working  men  and  women  will  never  be  placed 
on  an  equality  with  their  employers  in  bargaining 
for  their  services  until  the  dread  of  want  from 
enforced  temporary  idleness  is  removed.  When 
they  have  reached  this  point,  which  can  be  reached 
through  the  existence  of  wholly  adequate  reserve 
funds  in  the  treasuries  of  their  respective  organ- 
isations, and  when  they  have  once  demonstrated 
to  corrupt  professional  politicians  and  plunder- 
ing corporations — the  principal  employers  of  such 
politicians — that  they  can  use  the  ballot  success- 


28       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

fully  in  support  of  their  demands,  the  right  of 
collective  bargaining  will  no  longer  be  disputed. 
And  the  recognition  of  many  other  of  their  pal- 
pable rights,  now  contemptuously  denied  them, 
will  then  follow  in  short  order. 

"  Industrial  society  to-day  is  conducted  pretty 
much  as  the  hunt  for  food  is  carried  on  by  preda- 
tory wild  beasts.  Animal  cunning  and  brute  force 
are  at  a  premium  in  each. 

"  The  present  generation  of  working  men  and 
women  want  to  change  the  existing  dog-eat-dog 
system  for  another  humane  enough  at  least  to 
embody  the  principle  of  live-and-let-live.  Through- 
out the  ages  they  have  been  the  under  and  the 
eaten  dog;  and,  since  the  scuffle  must  continue  on 
the  same  lines  at  least  during  their  lives,  they 
want  to  be  able  to  engage  in  it  in  the  future,  if 
possible,  with  some  chance  of  coming  out  of  it 
with  a  whole  hide. 

"  Working  men  and  women  have  had  dinned 
into  them  from  the  beginning  the  sacredness  of 
the  duty  of  the  individual  toward  society.  They 
have  got  to  thinking  lately  that  the  duty  of 
society  toward  the  individual  ought  to  be  no  less 
sacred.  Many  of  them  think  that  society  owes 
Bome  other  duty  toward  its  producing  members 


LETTERS  FROM  LABOUR  LEADERS  29 

than  merely  the  one  of  punishing  them  when  they 
violate  the  law  and  protecting  them  against  crimes 
of  violence.  They  are  beginning  to  see  that  when 
a  man  has  exhausted  his  physical  and  mental  re- 
sources for  the  general  betterment,  society  owes 
him  some  reward  besides  the  degrading  shelter  of 
the  poorhouse, 

"  And  so  they  want  American  society  to  make 
early  and  adequate  provision  for  old-age  pensions, 
as  has  long  since  been  done  by  nations  which  are 
not  given  to  boasting  of  either  their  freedom  or 
their  prosperity. 

"  Neither  working  men  nor  women  any  longer 
take  the  teachings  of  the  ministers,  the  politicians, 
or  the  authors  as  seriously  as  they  were  once 
taken.  They  want  such  teachings  in  the  future 
to  lay  as  much  stress  on  humanity  and  men's 
worldly  happiness  as  they  did  in  the  past  on  God 
and  their  eternal  happiness,  or  on  their  duty  as 
law-abiding  citizens. 

"  The  men  and  women  for  whom  organised  la- 
bour now  speaks — and  they  include  productive 
workers  in  all  the  mechanical  callings  outside  as 
well  as  within  the  unions — have  done  the  drudgery 
of  the  world  in  the  past.  They  are  still  doing  it, 
and,    in    most   cases,    doing    it    without    having 


30       THE    IXDUSTEIAL    COXFLICT 

awarded  to  them  enough  to  buy  adequate  food, 
clothing,  and  shelter.  Union  workingmen  want  to 
remedy  this,  if  they  can,  or  at  least  to  work  some 
amelioration  of  it.  It  is  not  unreasonable  for 
tlicm  to  want,  as  they  do  want,  that  the  children 
of  the  poor  shall  at  least  be  as  well  provided  for 
in  physical  comforts  as  are  the  dumb  beasts  of  the 
rich. 

"  Social  and  economic  changes  will  be  needed 
to  secure  even  such  paltry  wants  as  these.  But 
these  changes  are  coming.  Workingmen  not  only 
want  to  see  them  come,  but  they  are  setting  them- 
selves seriously  to  the  task  of  making  them  come. 
And,  when  they  have  come,  you  and  I  may  still 
be  living  to  see  brought  into  the  lives  of  the  work- 
ingmen whose  wants  you  inquire  about,  more  of 
love  and  leisure,  and  less  of  dirt  and  drudgery 
than  are  found  there  to-day.  Intelligence,  con- 
tentment, happiness  can  be  expected  then  to  pre- 
vail among  them,  at  least  in  some  increased  degree, 
where  now  their  physical  environments  throw  them 
back  on  the  fiendish  devices  which  society  main- 
tains at  their  very  hands  to  make  and  keep  them 
diseased,  ignorant,  impoverished,  and  discon- 
tented.'' 


LETTERS  rEO:M  LABOUR  LEADERS  31 

"  The  labouring  man  wants  an  eight-hour  day, 
so  that  he  may  be  enabled  to  have  a  leisure  hour 
with  his  family;  that  he  may  prepare  his  children 
for  the  work  that  is  before  them;  that  he  may 
educate  himself,  and  be  active  in  politics;  that  he 
may  think  for  himself  instead  of  being  the  tool 
of  a  scoundrel.  Education  of  the  toiler  will  bring 
him  and  his  family  into  closer  relation  to  the 
house  of  God. 

"  I  believe  the  foundation  of  the  nation,  and 
labour  as  a  part,  is  the  home,  and  what  we  can 
make  it.  The  tenement  and  the  congested  con- 
dition of  the  abodes  of  its  working  people  in  our 
cities  should  be  eliminated  to  a  certain  extent  by 
building  homes  on  its  outskirts — better  homes  than 
he  can  possibly  have  in  the  tenement. 

"  Nothing  comes  nearer  to  my  ideal  than  a 
home  surrounded  by  a  little  of  nature,  a  garden- 
spot,  a  blade  of  grass,  and  an  opportunity  to  ob- 
serve the  Sabbath  in  a  fitting  manner — to  study 
the  teaching  of  Christ,  feeling  that  you  are  filling 
your  place  in  the  world  to  the  fullest  measure, 
and  are  not  a  mere  unit  of  production,  a  mere 
machine  with  a  close  relation  to  the  serf. 

"  A  child  whose  playground  is  the  street  becomes 
associated  with  the   evil   side  of  the  humdrum. 


32       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

existence  of  to-day  to  such  an  extent  that  it  be- 
comes callous  to  evil,  and  readily  steps  into  the 
path  of  evildoers. 

"The  toiler  wants  child-labour  laws  enforced 
in  all  States  of  the  Union  to  prevent  the  child 
from  being  made  a  slave  of  corporate  greed  that 
borders  on  the  condition  of  the  black  chattel  of 
the  sixties,  for  the  toiler  of  the  present  generation 
feels  a  responsibility  for  the  men  and  women  who 
are  to  replace  him  under  the  standard  of  labour 
in  the  next  generation. 

"  The  labouring  class  wants  a  fair  share  of  that 
which  they  help  to  produce,  that  they  may  live  and 
better  their  conditions;  they  want  government 
control  of  public  utilities,  leaving  fuel,  light,  and 
food  out  of  the  hands  of  monopoly. 

"  The  labouring  class  wants  postal  savings 
banks  under  the  direct  control  of  Uncle  Sam, 
where  a  deposit,  however  small,  may  be  made,  that 
they  may  feel  that  their  savings  are  not  going  to 
be  the  means  by  which  unscrupulous  scoundrels 
may  promote  their  own  extravagance  and  dissi- 
pation. 

"  The  labouring  class  of  to-day,  whose  last  re- 
sort is  strike,  wants  strikes  and  their  attendant 
bitterness   replaced   by   a   Board   of   Arbitration, 


LETTERS  FEOM  LABOUE  LEADERS  33 

who  shall  arbitrate  the  differences  of  the  employer 
and  employed  by  a  fair  and  impartial  decision. 
This  would  also  tend  to  create  within  the  labourer 
a  spirit  of  pride  in  his  Government  and  in  the 
laws  of  the  land  instead  of  the  contempt  he 
must  necessarily  have  for  the  court-made  laws 
so  frequently  applied  by  the  Federal  Court. 
Laws  are  made  by  men  so  as  to  be  unmade  by 
them  to  grant  special  privileges  to  the  employing 
class.  State  Emplojmient  Bureaus  are  among  the 
labourers'  wants, 

"  In  passing,  I  will  say  that  a  majority  of  our 
labouring  classes  realise  the  evils  attendant  upon 
the  free  rein  given  the  saloon-keepers,  and  the 
menace  they  are  to  the  progress  of  the  toiler, 
because  we  know  that  a  person  whose  mind  is 
bemuddled  with  liquor  is  an  easier  victim  of  him 
who  would  incite  riot  and  disorder,  for  Labour 
recognises  Law,  and  wants  Law,  but  not  law  ap- 
plied under  a  special  privilege  system." 

"  In  answer  to  your  question,  '  What  do  the 
workingmen  want  ? '  I  will  say  for  one  thing,  a 
change  in  the  economic  conditions  whereby  an 
overproduction  of  food  will  not  cause  the  pro- 
ducer of  that  food  to  be  threatened  with  hunger; 


34       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

or  an  overproduction  of  wool  and  cotton  will  not 
make  it  necessary  for  the  worker  to  dress  shab- 
bily. 

"  TKey  want  the  establishment  of  conditions 
whereby  a  man  who  is  willing  to  work  will  never 
lack  an  opportunity,  and  whereby  he  will  receive 
as  a  reward  for  his  labour  the  equivalent  of  what 
he  produces.  They  want  the  natural  resources  to 
be  held  as  public  domain  and  developed  as  needed. 

"  They  want  not  to  be  compelled  to  compete 
with  the  machine  and  the  dollar  as  well  as  with 
each  other. 

"  They  want  the  privilege  of  working  without 
paying  tribute  to  some  arrogant  master  who  im- 
agines he  has  a  divine  right  to  fence  up  a  part  of 
the  public  domain  and  call  it  his  own,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  mining  and  lumbering  industries, 
notably. 

"  They  want  peace  between  nations,  between 
races,  and  between  men,  for  they  believe  that  war 
is  wholesale  murder,  and  is  generally  planned  and 
caused  by  some  private  interests  of  the  money 
power,  and  is  for  someone's  gain  and  aggrandise- 
ment. 

"  They  want  the  liberty  and  equality  which  our 
forefathers  fought  for  in  1776. 


LETTERS  FROM  LABOUR  LEADERS  35 

"  They  want  emancipation  from  the  rule  of  the 
master,  as  did  the  black  man  want  emancipation 
in  1861. 

"  In  short,  the  working  people  want  a  co-opera- 
tive commonwealth — socialism,  if  you  please." 

"  It  may  be  envy,  or  it  may  be  ambition,  or 
possibly  the  native  intelligence  of  the  workman 
which  leads  him  to  believe  that  he  can  do  better 
in  the  future  than  in  the  past.  Like  others,  he 
measures  his  worth  by  a  money  standard,  and  he 
is  continually  reminded  of  the  lowness  of  his  stand- 
ard. As  a  means  to  an  end  he  has  found  that 
concerted  action  is  better  than  individual  action. 
He  has  discovered  also  that  the  shortest  way  is 
not  always  the  surest  road. 

"  The  old-time  workman  worked  12  to  16  hours 
without  a  m.urmur.  His  labour  was  varied  in 
character.  He  was  not  kept  wholly  at  one  detail 
of  work.  Haste  was  unknown,  and  was  not  re- 
quired of  him.  The  introduction  of  machinery 
altered  his  position.  The  scope  of  his  work  was 
limited.  It  limited  him.  It  worked  incessantly; 
he  must  needs  do  the  same.  It  must  have  his  con- 
stant care.  He  became  in  a  measure  like  the 
machine  he  tended — an  automaton.     The  greater 


36       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

use  of  machinery  handicapped  the  labourer  even 
though  it  multiplied  the  demand  for  the  product 
of  labour. 

"  The  workman  had  to  become  a  specialist,  and 
felt  that  he  ought  to  share  proportionately  the 
profits  of  the  increased  labour  required  of  him. 
In  time  he  discovered  that  long  hours  lessened 
opportunities  of  labour  for  others,  and  with  true 
socialistic  instinct,  which  by  nature  we  all  pos- 
eess,  unless  perverted,  he  combined  to  shorten 
hours  of  labour,  to  help  a  brother-labourer  pro- 
vide bread  for  his  household.  In  a  word,  th,e 
labourer  of  to-day  wants  work,  he  wants  money 
for  his  work,  he  wants  his  fellow-labourer  to  have 
work,  and  all  want  a  reasonable  amount  of  leisure 
for  educational  purposes,  for  recreation  and  gen- 
eral profit.  He  also  wants  to  labour  in  congenial, 
sanitary  conditions,  and  no  longer  to  be  consid- 
ered a  slave  for  the  enrichment  of  a  few  already 
too  rich  captains  of  industry." 

"  In  answering  your  question,  '  What  do  work- 
ingmen  want  ?  '  I  reply,  '  Justice.'  They  feel  that 
they  do  not  receive  now  that  which  rightfully  be- 
longs to  them — that  all  wealth  is  the  product  of 
labour  (physical  and  mental),  and  that  no  man 


LETTEES  FROM  LABOUR  LEADERS  37 

has  the  right  to  one  cent  he  does  not  earn,  except 
as  charity;  that  the  producing  power  of  man  has 
so  increased  by  the  invention  of  machinery,  and 
the  skill  of  man,  that  the  average  man  now  pro- 
duces six  times  more  in  a  day's  work  than  his 
grandfather  did.  That  his  grandfather  used  to 
receive,  even  under  rent  laws,  one-half  of  what  he 
produced.  That  now  he  receives  only  one-fifth. 
"  Or,  to  put  it  in  another  form :  The  average  man 
earns  $2448  per  year  (U.  S.  Reports),  and  only 
receives  $452  in  return.  Again,  when  he  sees  the 
extravagant  display  of  wealth  upon  the  part  of 
his  employer,  and  compares  this  with  his  own  hard 
struggle  for  existence,  it  makes  him  discontented. 
Now,  while  wages  have  increased  about  15  per 
cent,  in  the  last  ten  years,  living  has  increased 
over  30  per  cent.,  and  therefore  his  condition  has 
not  improved,  and  being  a  student,  more  or  less, 
of  the  economical  conditions,  his  eyes  are  being 
opened.  So  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  prosper- 
ity, we  witness  a  spirit  of  great  discontent.  He 
contends  that  his  hours  should  be  reduced  to  eight, 
because  of  the  strenuous  life  he  has  to  live.  Ten 
hours  over  a  machine,  or  on  a  locomotive,  or  any 
other  such  work,  makes  a  nervous  wreck  of  him 
in  a  few  years,  and  if  he  does  not  break  down 


144  .s  [i 


38       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

before  he  is  forty,  his  employer  will  dismiss  him 
as  too  old.  So  he  sees  for  self-protection  his  hours 
must  be  reduced,  and  thus  save  his  life.  He  also 
sees  that  there  is  no  need  for  such  long  hours  in 
a  land  of  such  wealth,  and  with  this  view  I  am  in 
full  accord. 

"  A  more  comprehensive  view,  I  believe,  could 
be  secured  under  the  heading,  *  Labour  and  Or- 
ganisation, and  Why?'  In  the  past  it  has  been 
our  experience  that  orators  who  have  taken  this 
subject,  generally  compared  labourers  in  the  United 
States  with  those  of  other  countries,  thus  convey- 
ing to  the  public  a  feeling  that  the  labour  of  our 
country  is  already  overpaid,  and  ought  to  be  satis- 
fied with  conditions  as  they  exist  in  this  country 
to-day. 

"  Another  method  of  comparison  which  should 
be  condemned,  is  a  condition  existing  in  European 
countries,  where  women  as  well  as  men  are  com- 
pelled to  enter  the  fields  of  manual  labour  in  order 
to  secure  a  livelihood — a  sort  of  limited  slavery. 
The  above  conditions  exist  chiefly  among  the  Ger- 
manic and  Slavonic  races,  where  men  are  consid- 
ered monarchs  of  the  home.  I,  as  a  descendant 
of  the  German  peoples,  and  living  among  a  la- 
bouring element,  often  hear  of  the  conditions  in 


LETTERS  FROM  LABOUR  LEADERS  39 

the  '  Fater  Lant/  and  the  boasting  of  some  ig- 
noramus condemning  the  mothers  of  our  country 
because  they  will  not  leave  their  homes  and  babes 
to  work  with  the  men.  Xot  only  this  is  mentioned, 
but  they  go  further,  telling  how  they  were  com- 
pelled to  work  from  sunrise  to  sunset  when  mere 
mites  of  children.  Then  why  should  we  wonder 
that  ignorance  and  inability  are  so  prevalent 
among  the  masses? 

"  True  it  is  that  in  the  IJnited  States  condi- 
tions are  not  quite  like  those  I  have  mentioned, 
but  it  is  also  true  that  the  hoarding  of  wealth  of 
the  nation  by  a  few  is  tending  to  bring  about  con- 
ditions like  these,  or  worse, 

"  Statisticians  estimate  the  wealth  of  our  coun- 
try thus; 

There  is  in  the  United  States  land  worth 

Money  amounting  to 

Other  resources 

"  Then,  taking  figures  so  collected  and  dividing 
same  by  number  of  inhabitants,  ascertain  the 
wealth  of  each  citizen,  forgetting  the  fact  that 
the  great  bulk  of  our  wealth  is  in  the  hands  of 
few. 


40       THE    INDUSTKIAL    CONFLICT 

"  Then  you  ask  me,  '  What  do  the  workingmen 
want  ? ' 

"We  will  consider  for  an  illustration  a  work- 
ingman  receiving  as  a  wage  forty  dollars  per 
month.  Out  of  this  he  must  support  a  family, 
rarely  under  five  members,  pay  rent,  at  the  least 
from  $16  to  $20;  eatables,  $15  to  $20;  clothes, 
doctor's  bills,  and  many  sundry  expenses  neces- 
sary to  maintain  life — all  from  this  small  sum. 
Perhaps  you  ask,  '  How  can  this  be  accomplished  ?  ' 
The  answer  is,  '  It  cannot.' 

"  How  then  can  he  make  ends  meet?  He  must 
either  steal,  or  leave  some  things  unpaid,  or  put 
his  children  to  work  at  the  time  when  they  should 
be  in  school  preparing  for  a  better  life  than  their 
parents  have  lived,  or  resort  to  the  most  shameful 
of  all  and  send  the  mother  to  work,  when  we  well 
know  she  is  needed  to  take  care  of  the  home. 

"  What  the  workingmen  want  is  enlightenment 
enough — the  opportunity  to  acquire  enlightenment 
necessary  to  unite  and  act  as  one.  Then  Labour 
will  awake  fully  and  realise  its  latent  power,  ceas- 
ing to  patiently  accept  the  lashes  of  capitalisation 
like  a  trained  animal. 

"Now  for  some  light  upon  the  mechanical  or 
skilled  labourers,  who  constitute  the  middle  classes. 


LETTEES    FROM    LABOUR    LEADERS    41 

I  will  endeavour  to  illustrate  by  mentioning  some 
facts  which  the  press  always  fails  to  present.  In 
the  strike  of  the  electricians  this  past  spring  very 
few  people  realised  the  actual  conditions.  A  line- 
man must  devote  not  less  than  three  years  to 
learning  his  trade.  Then  the  employer  thinks  it 
usury  to  pay  him  $2.75  per  day.  Now  then,  con- 
sider that  this  man  has  a  family.  He  is  in  mo- 
mentary danger  of  his  life  while  at  work.  Then, 
too,  he  earns  only  enough  for  a  meagre  living. 
Some  day,  most  unexpectedly,  he  is  killed.  What 
then  has  his  family  to  protect  them?  Absolutely 
nothing.  He  cannot  take  out  insurance,  because 
insurance  companies  refuse  to  accept  a  man  so 
employed.  There  are  a  few  fraternal  orders  which 
do  accept  him,  but  he  must  pay  additional  hazard 
premiums,  making  it  impossible  for  such  a  person 
to  pay  for  protection  for  his  little  ones  and  family. 
Again,  he  is  not  earning  enough  to  save  anything 
for  the  future.  Yet  people  sa}'-,  and  most  believe, 
it  was  unfair  to  ask  for  a  small  increase  in  this 
man's  pay.  The  time  is  at  hand  when  capital  will 
enslave  the  workingman,  or  Labour  will  show  its 
strength,  and  separate  capital  from  capitalist. 

"  Will  Labour  cease  slumbering  and  bring  to 
the  surface  for  use  its  hidden  strength,  or  continue 


42       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

to  remain  the  horse  of  ages,  accepting  hoarded 
wealth's  lash  without  a  murmur? 

"  If  my  language  were  not  so  limited,  I  might 
go  on  citing  the  various  oppressions  that  the  well- 
organised  employers  are  subjecting  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  our  country  to. 

"  I  would  like  to  call  attention  to  the  '  Bill  of 
Grievances '  presented  by  Congressman  Towne,  in 
behalf  of  Labour,  at  the  last  session  of  that  honour- 
able body. 

"Believing  that  you  can,  by  reference  to  the 
above  mentioned  document,  secure  valuable  ma- 
terial for  the  subject  mentioned,  '  What  the  work- 
ingmen  want.'  " 

"  I  have  always  and  at  all  times  tried  to  the 
best  of  my  ability  to  elevate  my  fellow-workman 
to  a  position  whereby  he  might  know  his  rights 
as  a  citizen,  and  his  rights  to  live  in  this  grand 
and  great  republic,  and  to  receive  a  fair  share  of 
the  products  of  his  labour.  The  wants  of  the  work- 
ing man  and  woman  are  many,  and  too  numerous 
for  me  to  state,  yet  there  are  a  few  I  would 
like  to  call  your  attention  to :  One  is  the  female 
clerks  in  the  department  stores,  who  are  continu- 
ally on  their  feet  from  the  time  they  go  to  work 
in  the  morning  until  the  stores  close  at  night. 


LETTERS  FROM  LABOUR  LEADERS  43 

and,  as  I  have  been  informed,  they  do  not  receive 
compensation  enough  to  clothe  and  support  them- 
selves properly,  and  this  in  a  Christian  com- 
munity. Their  wants  should  be  called  to  the 
attention  of  the  public  and  to  the  minds  of  our 
charitable  and  public-spirited  citizens. 

"  Another  is  our  unskilled  or  common  work- 
man, who  has  no  one  to  advocate  his  rights.  His 
lot  is  a  hard  one,  and  his  hours  long.  While  some 
people  tell  us  that  it  requires  no  brains  to  do  com- 
mon labour,  nevertheless  the  labouring  man  is 
human,  and  his  requirements  should  be  looked 
after,  and  his  position  in  life  elevated. 

"  The  last  one  is  the  factory  girl.  Her  welfare 
deserves  the  goodwill  of  a  fair-minded  public,  and 
her  surroundings  should  be  made  more  pleasant, 
for  factory  life  at  its  best  is  unpleasant. 

"  Organised  and  skilled  labour  is  in  a  fair  way 
to  bring  about  a  better  understanding  between  the 
employer  and  employed.  Some  say  the  pulpit  is 
not  the  place  for  politics — it  is  only  for  the  word 
of  God.  That  may  be,  but  to  my  mind  there  are 
no  men  better  fitted  and  more  qualified  to  ele- 
vate the  working  people  than  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel.  If  we  cannot  go  to  our  ministers  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  brotherhood  of  man — that  brother- 
hood that  our  Saviour  taught  to  His  apostles,  and 


44       THE    INDUSTRIAL   CONFLICT 

to  all  that  He  came  in  contact  with  while  preaching 
his  doctrines  on  this  earth,  then  to  whom  shall  we 
go?  The  American  people  love  fair  play,  they 
love  the  man  who  is  independent  and  courageous, 
because  this  man  personifies  the  spirit  which  has 
made  this  nation  great." 

"  Replying  to  yours  of  the  26th  ult.,  I  give 
below  a  few  of  the  things  a  labouring  man  wants : 

"  1.  A  just  proportion  of  the  wealth  he  pro- 
duces. 

"2.  An  equal  standing  with  capital  before  the 
courts  of  the  land. 

"  3.  A  system  of  taxation,  national  and  State, 
which  will  remove  a  portion  of  the  burden  from 
the  shoulders  of  producer  and  place  it  upon  cap- 
ital. 

"  4.  An  eight-hour  day,  in  order  that  he  may 
have  time  for  self-improvement  and  healthful 
recreation. 

"  5.  The  right  of  organisation  for  mutual  pro- 
tection. 

"  6.  The  protection  of  women  and  children  in 
all  the  avenues  of  labour." 

"  You  request  me  to  give  in  a  definite,  compact, 


LETTERS  FROM  LABOUR  LEADERS  45 

and  direct  way,  what  changes  I  think  should  be 
made  in  the  present  relations  between  employer 
and  employed  to  give  the  workingmen  what  they 
ought  to  have. 

"  First,  he  should  have  (what  he  has  not  now) 
a  fair  profit  on  his  investment  (his  labour),  his 
only  capital. 

"  Second,  he  should  be  made  to  feel  that  above 
all  he  is  a  man,  a  necessity  to  the  prosperity  of  his 
employer,  not  a  machine  to  be  carted  to  one  side 
as  soon  as,  in  the  smallest  degree,  his  physical 
strength  deteriorates. 

"  Third,  he  has  a  right  to  expect,  but  cannot 
demand,  that  his  services  will  command  remu- 
neration enough  to  place  his  life  companion  and 
himself  beyond  want  after  a  certain  age — say 
fifty — without  in  the  meantime  depriving  himself 
of  the  actual  necessities  and  a  few  of  the  luxuries 
of  life. 

"  Fourth,  he  should  be  able  to  educate  his  chil- 
dren until  such  time  as  they  are  in  a  position  to 
earn  their  own  living. 

"  Fifth,  he  should  receive  such  compensation  as 
will  enable  him  in  time  to  amass  enough  to  own 
his  home,  and  that  without  injury  to  the  health 
of  his  family  or  himself. 


46       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

"  Sixth,  let  the  employer  divide  a  certain  per 
cent,  of  profit  (if  any)  annually  among  faithful 
employees.  If  he  does  this,  when  losses  occur,  if 
he  will  confer  with  them,  he  will  at  least  get 
sympathy,  if  not  a  reduction  in  wages,  until 
profits  are  again  secured,  when,  if  he  is  honest, 
he  will  reimburse  them  for  sacrifices  made. 

"  Seventh,  the  workingmen  want  employers  to  be 
christian  seven  days  in  the  week  instead  of  one, 
to  do  unto  others  as  they  would  have  others  do 
unto  them,  to  carry  their  Christianity  into  their 
everyday  life. 

"  Eighth,  if  employers  would  evince  more  in- 
terest in  the  temporal  welfare  of  employees,  if 
they  would  greet  them  with  a  cordial  handshake, 
a  ^  Good-morning,  Bill,'  would  visit  their  homes, 
inquire  as  to  their  financial  condition  as  well  as 
their  spiritual,  treat  them  as  equals,  in  the  sight 
of  God  at  least,  the  question  of  strikes,  boycotts, 
etc.,  would  settle  itself  in  a  short  time ;  there  would 
be  cosmos  where  now  there  is  industrial  chaos,  the 
age  of  miracles  would  again  be  with  us.  God 
would  indeed  reign." 

In  order  to  place  before  the  reader  the  full 
demands  of  labour  at  a  glance,  a  summary  has 


LETTERS  FROM  LABOUR  LEADERS  47 

been  made  of  the  principal  points  contained  in 
the  letters.  They  do  not  include  everything  con- 
tained in  all  the  labour  platforms  of  various  kinds 
in  recent  years,  but  I  think  they  may  be  regarded 
as  substantially  filling  the  requirements  of  a  com- 
plete program.  The  insistent  demands  are  for 
shorter  hours,  larger  wages,  and  the  closed  shop. 
The  other  demands  are  not  so  numerously  nor  so 
energetically  supported, 

THE  LETTERS  CONDENSED 

1.  The  workingman  wants  shorter  hours.  The 
introduction  of  machinery  has  required  him  to 
work  faster,  and  so  he  wishes  shorter  hours,  and 
feels  that  he  ought  to  share  proportionately  the 
profits  of  the  increased  labour  required  of  him. 

2.  He  wants  an  eight-hour  day.  Ten  hours  on 
a  machine  or  locomotive  makes  a  nervous  wreck  of 
him  in  a  few  years.  For  his  protection  his  hours 
must  be  reduced.  He  needs  time  for  self-improve- 
ment and  healthful  recreation. 

3.  The  public  should  insist  that  the  female 
clerks  in  the  department  stores  receive  more  com- 
pensation. The  unskilled  workman  has  no  one  to 
advocate  his  rights,  and  he,  also,  should  be  as- 


48       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

sisted.  The  welfare  of  the  factory  girl  deserves 
the  goodwill  of  a  fair-minded  public.  These  need 
more  help  than  organised  and  skilled  labour. 

4.  Organised  workmen  want  the  "  closed  shop." 
"  "We  want  law  and  order,  but  we  do  not  want 
government  by  injunction." 

5.  "  We  want  the  elimination  of  child  labour." 

6.  Labour  demands  the  right  to  organise  for 
self  and  mutual  protection.  He  needs  enlighten- 
ment enough  to  unite. 

7.  A  system  of  taxation,  national  and  State, 
which  will  remove  the  burden  from  the  shoulders 
of  the  producer  and  place  it  upon  capital. 

8.  The  protection  of  women  and  children  in  all 
the  avenues  of  labour. 

9.  The  workman  should  be  made  to  feel  that  he 
is  a  man,  and  not  a  machine.  If  employers  would 
evince  more  interest  in  the  welfare  of  employees, 
and  treat  them  as  equals  in  the  sight  of  God  at 
least,  there  would  be  cosmos  where  now  there  is 
industrial  chaos. 

10.  The  workmen  want  employers  to  be  Chris- 
tians seven  days  in  a  week,  and  to  carry  their 
Christianity  into  their  everyday  lives. 

11.  Workmen  demand  sanitation  and  safety  de- 
vices in  aU  shops  and  factories.    There  needs  to  be 


LETTERS  FEOM  LABOUE  LEADERS  49 

developed  general  sympathy  between  employer  and 
employee;  man  is  considered  nothing  more  than  a 
machine.    He  is  not  looked  upon  as  a  brother. 

12.  The  tenement  and  tlie  congested  conditions 
of  the  homes  of  the  workingmen  should  be  im- 
proved by  building  houses  on  the  outskirts  of 
cities. 

13.  Government  control  of  public  utilities,  tak- 
ing fuel,  light,  and  food  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
monopolists. 

14.  Postal  Savings  Banks  under  the  direct  con- 
trol of  the  government. 

15.  A  board  of  arbitration  created  by  the  State 
to  settle  differences  between  employer  and  em- 
ployee. 

16.  Immigration  should  be  restricted  for  the 
protection  of  American  labour. 

17.  Conditions  whereby  a  man  who  is  willing 
to  work  would  never  lack  an  opportunity.  Nat- 
ural resources  held  as  public  domain  so  that  the 
workman  will  not  have  to  pay  tribute  to  some 
arrogant  master,  as  in  the  case  of  the  mining  and 
lumber  industries.  Emancipation  from  the  rule 
of  the  master,  as  did  the  black  man  in  1861. 

18.  They  want  peace,  for  war  is  generally  caused 
and  planned  by  some  interest  of  the  money  power. 


CHAPTEE  III 
PEIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR 

Liberty  of  Organisation — Shorter  Hours — 
Larger  Wages — The  Closed  Shop. 

In  discussing  the  demands  of  labour  I  have  no 
hope  at  all  that  what  I  shall  say  will  he  pleasing 
to  all  the  parties  to  the  controversy.  That  there 
is  a  controversy  is,  of  course,  substantial  evidence 
that  there  is  no  agreement  between  the  parties, 
and  yet  I  am  not  without  hope  that  in  setting 
forth  the  views  of  the  wage  earners  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  the  employers  on  the  other,  clearly 
and  fairly,  the  exposition  may  serve  to  make  the 
nature  of  the  disagreement  understood,  and  to 
contribute  something  toward  an  adjustment  of  the 
difficulties.  It  would  be  foolish  to  deny  that  the 
forces  commonly  known  as  capital  and  labour 
stand  over  against  each  other,  either  in  open  an- 
tagonism or  in  armed  neutrality.  It  is  sometimes 
stated  that  the  labour  unions  constitute  not  more 
than  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  working  population, 
and  on  the  other  hand,  the  employing  class  con- 

50 


PEIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR    51 

stitutes  a  much  smaller  percentage,  but  meantime 
the  whole  public  is  so  inextricably  united  with 
both  classes  that  it  shares  in  their  practical  de- 
bates, and  suffers  tremendously  from  any  economic 
follies  in  which  they  may  indulge.  The  general 
public  see  in  the  conflict  only  the  work  of  huge 
mechanical  forces;  they  see  that  capital  is  bul- 
warked with  power,  and  supported  by  statutes; 
they  see  that  labour  has  come  to  feel  in  a  new  way 
its  latent  power,  has  a  new-born  sense  of  rights 
which  have  hitherto  been  denied,  and  in  the  name 
of  the  new  industrial  democracy  is  flinging  ban- 
ners to  the  breeze  which  may  become  the  symbols 
of  revolution.  But  the  forces  are  not  mechanical, 
and  the  conflict  is  not  material.  The  battle  is 
waging  between  men  whose  intellects  and  hearts 
are  involved,  whose  social  life  has  been  begotten  by 
ten  thousand  successful  struggles  through  un- 
counted thousands  of  years,  and  this  organic  struc- 
ture which  we  call  society  is  not  to  perish  by 
reason  of  labour  disputes,  for  it  is  the  resultant 
value  of  history,  and  it  is  too  precious  to  the  faith 
and  love  of  men.  It  is  essential  that  we  discover 
the  moral  and  social  forces  which  are  able  to  con- 
trol, and  the  economic  wisdom  which  is  sufficient 
to  guide,  in  the  present  social  emergency.     In 


53       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

presenting  the  view  of  what  workmen  want,  it  is 
quite  natural  that  the  workmen  referred  to  should 
be  those  who  belong  to  organised  labour,  for  or- 
ganised labour  is  an  accomplished  fact.  It  is  the 
organic  representative  of  the  bone  and  sinew  of 
the  nation.  Organisation  has  come  to  stay.  It 
has  a  right  to  stay.  Its  voice  must  be  heard.  It 
is  the  only  form  of  labour  that  has  any  voice. 
Apart  from  organisation.  Labour  is  as  dumb  and 
as  weak  to-day  as  when  it  cowered  a  trembling 
slave  beneath  the  lash  of  its  master. 

It  is  too  late  to  recount  the  history  of  the 
struggle  for  the  right  of  free  association.  The 
associations  of  workmen  fought  their  way  by  the 
tools  of  revolution  to  peaceable  recognition.  There 
was  no  other  course  to  be  pursued  in  England, 
when  the  power  to  legislate  was  wholly  in  the 
hands  of  the  classes.  The  growth  of  labour  unions 
is  parallel  with  the  growth  of  the  modern  indus- 
trial system.  With  the  introduction  of  steam  and 
machinery  the  household  industry  and  the  small 
shop  were  manifestly  doomed.  With  the  develop- 
ment of  large  groups  of  men  engaged  in  common 
service,  and  the  loss  of  the  old  intimate  contact 
between  the  employer  and  employed,  a  new  state 
of   affairs   was   born.      This   new   relation   could 


PEIMARY    DEMAXDS    OF    LABOUR     53 

only  be  met  by  the  sense  of  common  conditions, 
common  needs,  and  common  rights  which  must 
of  necessity  come  sooner  or  later  to  those  engaged 
in  common  toil.  The  organisation  of  capital 
brought  human  flesh  and  blood  face  to  face  with 
an  arbitrary  thing  which  was  not  an  entity  at  all 
in  itself,  which  was  a  creature  created  by  the  law, 
and  which  seemed  to  have  neither  soul  nor  com- 
passion. The  evolution  of  property  rights  has 
been  very  slow,  and  is,  practically,  the  history  of 
the  unfolding  of  juridic  society.  Over  against 
this  evolution  of  thousands  of  years  there  stands 
the  two  hundred  years'  development  of  the  recog- 
nised rights  of  wage  earners,  and  it  is  only  within 
the  last  forty  years  that  this  development  has  been 
largely  significant. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  labour  unions  would 
be  all  right  if  they  were  well  managed.  It  is  ab- 
surd to  expect  that  a  form  of  social  and  industrial 
organisation  which  is  recent  in  time,  and  which 
is  essentially  new  in  function,  should  come  into 
being  without  many  and  gross  mistakes.  It  is 
asking  too  much.  Political,  religious,  and  eco- 
nomic organisation,  and  every  other  form  of  human 
association  has  come  up  through  great  tribulation, 
and  is  the  survival  of  uncounted  blunders.     The 


54       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

only  thing  to  ask  is  whether  the  labour  union  has 
promise  of  enough  usefulness  when  it  is  developed 
to  atone  for  the  cost  of  its  development.  The  legal 
battle  for  labour  unions  has  been  already  fought 
out.  They  have  a  right  to  exist.  The  ethical  bat- 
tle will  yet  be  won  when  they  will  have  the  respect 
of  society  because  they  will  be  found  to  serve  so- 
ciety well. 

It  is  time  to  look  at  the  matter  a  little  more 
concretely.  A  labour  union  may  be  defined  as  an 
association  of  workmen  joined  together  for  eco- 
nomic and  social  improvement.  There  are  certain 
and  manifest  uses  of  such  associations,  and  they 
have  distinctly  proved  their  value. 

Of  special  significance,  in  the  first  place,  is  the 
social  value.  The  labour  union  makes  the  craft 
the  foundation  of  fellowship.  It  unites  men  of 
various  races;  it  overcomes  differences  of  creed 
and  speech.  It  introduces  a  new  and  fundamental 
principle  of  social  organisation.  Those  who  study 
the  structure  of  society  from  a  scientific  point  of 
view  are  well  aware  that  the  strength  of  every 
social  order  depends  upon  the  number  and  strength 
of  the  social  bonds.  The  most  coherent  social  or- 
ganisation that  ever  existed  was  the  ancient  city- 
state,  based  upon  one  blood,  one  law,  one  land,  one 


PRIMAKY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR    55 

religion,  one  speech,  one  government,  one  historj^, 
one  tradition.  The  American  value  of  labour 
unions  is  tremendous  because  our  adverse  social 
elements  are  not  sufficiently  united  in  common  in- 
terests. The  public  school  may  be  said  to  be  the 
greatest  agency  for  the  development  of  the  Ameri- 
can type  out  of  the  complex  race  elements,  but 
I  should  place  as  only  second  to  the  public  school 
the  labour  union.  In  some  respects  the  labour 
union  is  more  efficient  than  the  school,  for  while 
the  school  creates  an  unconscious  atmosphere,  the 
labour  union  furnishes  men  a  motive  for  seeking 
with  intelligence  to  find  a  common  ground  of  faith 
and  action. 

The  next  value  of  the  labour  union  is  educa- 
tional. The  organisation  itself  stands  for  studies 
on  economic  questions.  The  labour  leaders  are 
students  of  these  questions  in  a  direct  and  special 
way,  but  the  rank  and  file  are  compelled  to  be,  in- 
cidentally, students,  for  they  listen  to  all  sorts  of 
discussions  upon  questions  to  which  they  are  only 
remotely  related,  and  even  though  the  economic 
theory  that  is  expounded  is  not  always  sound,  the 
same  thing  may  be  said  of  economic  theory  in 
many  another  form. 

Not  alone   are  economic  facts  and  principles 


56        THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

made  an  object  of  inquiry,  but  the  labour  unions 
afford  an  admirable  school  in  the  power  of  public 
speech.  They  are  the  lyceums  of  the  people.  Here 
among  equals  men  of  ability  come  to  the  front 
and  learn  to  express  themselves  with  the  sureness 
and  clearness  that  would  often  put  to  shame  as- 
sociations of  employers. 

But  the  labour  organisation  is  a  form  of  dis- 
cipline, and  this  is  increasingly  true.  It  used  to 
be  regarded  as  an  engine  of  revolt,  or  an  organisa- 
tion of  agitation,  but  nothing  is  finer  than  the 
self-control  of  some  of  the  labour  leaders,  and  in- 
creasingly the  labour  unions  not  only  seek  to  pro- 
mote wise  reforms,  but  to  suppress  unwise  or 
untimely  agitations. 

Now,  if  the  labour  union  had  only  social  value 
and  educational  value,  it  would  doubtless  receive 
the  endorsement  of  employers,  and  of  the  public 
generally,  but  in  addition  it  has  manifested  eco- 
nomic value.  By  agitation  and  education,  by  per- 
suasion and  revolt,  the  labour  unions  have  increased 
wages  in  many  branches  of  toil,  and  have  largely 
reduced  the  hours  of  labour.  They  have  made  bet- 
ter the  economic  conditions  of  their  members,  and 
they  have  done  more;  for,  indirectly,  they  have 
raised  the  wages  of  large  numbers  of  people  not 


PEIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUE    57 

connected  with  the  unions.  By  increasing  the 
amount  of  wages  they  have  increased  the  power 
of  consumption,  and  they  have  stimulated  indus- 
tries, and  have  assisted  in  developing  commercial 
activity.  Mr.  James  Duncan  asserts  that  in  fifteen 
years  the  10,000  members  of  the  Granite  Cutters' 
Union  alone  have  secured  an  increase  of  more  than 
$32,000,000  in  wages. 

The  labour  unions  have  been  useful  in  securing 
protective  legislation.  Labour  unions  sometimes 
claim  that  they  have  secured  this  legislation  single- 
handed  and  alone,  but  the  wise  leaders  know  that 
they  have  been  assisted,  and  sometimes  preceded, 
by  thoughtful  and  philanthropic  persons  in  no 
way  connected  with  labour  unions.  The  fact  re- 
mains that  the  recent  years  coincident  with  the 
development  of  the  labour  movement  have  also 
been  marked  by  the  passage  of  new  laws  for  the 
protection  of  labour.  The  establishment  of  labour 
bureaus  by  the  various  States  furnishes  the  organ 
for  all  kinds  of  investigation  and  the  channel 
through  which  wise  suggestion  for  new  legislation 
may  flow.  Many  of  the  investigations  of  labour 
bureaus  are  not  only  full  of  practical  utility,  but 
have  a  great  deal  of  scientific  value.  Among  the 
laws  which  have  been  secured  are  those  to  protect 


68       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

women  and  children  by  denying  to  children  under 
certain  ages  the  right  to  labour,  and  by  limiting 
the  hours  when  women  may  labour,  and  excluding 
them  from  certain  dangerous  and  overtasking  em- 
ployment. The  new  legislation  includes  factory 
inspection  to  see  that  these  laws  are  enforced, 
that  sanitary  conditions  prevail,  and  to  make  fur- 
ther suggestions  of  needed  improvements.  The 
doctrine  of  employer's  liability  for  injuries  re- 
ceived in  work  has  been  entirely  recast,  and  has 
compelled  a  federation  of  employers  through  in- 
suring associations.  These  are  only  indications 
of  the  broad  field  that  has  been  covered. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  urged  that  labour 
laws  are  not  alone  protection  for  the  labourer, 
but  they  are  also  protection  for  the  generous  em- 
ployer against  his  stingy  competitor.  In  the 
struggle  for  existence,  and  in  the  freedom  of 
trade  which  follows  open  markets  for  the  purchase 
and  sale  of  commodity  and  of  labour,  it  is  often 
impossible  for  the  employer  to  be  as  generous  as 
he  is  disposed  to  be,  for  he  must  meet  the  condi- 
tions imposed  by  the  common  methods  of  the 
trade  in  which  he  is  engaged,  both  in  his  own 
city  and  State  and  in  the  competing  territory. 
He  is  allowed  to  be  as  generous  as  he  finds  it 


PRIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR     59 

possible  to  be  only  if  his  unwilling  competitor  is 
compelled  to  engage  in  business  on  the  same  terms. 
These  are  some  of  the  arguments  in  brief  for  the 
usefulness  of  the  labour  union.  In  my  judgment 
they  have  not  been  and  cannot  be  answered. 

The  workingmen,  however,  do  not  organise 
themselves  into  unions  for  speculative  reasons. 
These  would  appeal  to  but  few  of  them.  The 
union  is  for  them  an  organ  of  self-interest.  They 
combine  just  as  employers  combine,  for  the  sake 
of  more  power.  There  are  some  things  they  say 
they  want,  but  there  are  some  things  they  know 
they  want.  The  single  workman  could  not  make 
the  struggle,  but  many  workmen  united  under 
one  will,  and  speaking  with  a  single  voice,  hope  to 
be  more  successful.  It  is  easy  to  gather  from  the 
letters  here  presented  those  demands  of  labour 
which  may  be  called  primary,  because  they  are  the 
most  fundamental  to  their  interest,  and  because 
they  are  the  real  and  final  cause  for  labour  organ- 
isation. 

The  workmen  want  shorter  hours.  Will  it  not 
clarify  the  discussion  to  say  that  the  workmen  al- 
ways want  the  shortest  day's  work  and  the  largest 
day's  pay  that  they  can  obtain?  Will  it  not  also 
equally  assist  the  discussion  to  understand  that  the 


60       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

employer  always  wants  the  largest  production  at 
the  smallest  expense  ?  It  does  not  seem  likely  that 
these  two  parties  can  come  to  any  permanent 
agreement  without  a  good  deal  of  change  of 
heart.  The  campaign  for  a  shorter  day's  work 
began  something  like  a  hundred  years  ago.  At 
that  time  men  worked  from  twelve  to  sixteen  hours 
per  day.  The  universal  demand  was  that  ten 
hours  constitute  a  day's  toil.  At  that  time  I  sup- 
pose every  labour  leader  and  every  philanthropist 
engaged  in  the  discussion  would  have  said  that  ten 
hours  was  the  ultimate  goal.  "  Shorten  the  day 
to  ten  hours  and  we  will  be  content."  On  the 
other  hand,  employers  and  statesmen  asserted,  and 
probably  believed,  that  to  reduce  the  day's  work 
to  ten  hours  would  be  nothing  less  than  ruin.  So 
great  a  friend  of  the  rights  of  man  as  John  Bright 
uttered  the  most  gloomy  predictions  as  to  the 
effect  upon  the  economical  and  social  interests  of 
his  country  in  case  the  reform  should  succeed. 
That  battle  was  fought,  and  we  need  not  stop  upon 
the  marches  and  countermarches,  the  fortifications 
and  mining,  incident  to  the  contest.  A  new  cam- 
paign has  been  in  progress,  waged  with  a  good  deal 
of  energy  during  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years,  in 
favour  of  eight  hours  as  the  normal  daj-'s  work. 


PEIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR     Gl 

Mr.  Samuel  Gompers  sho-«-s  us  the  nature  of  the 
contest  when  he  says,  "  Labour  wants  eight  hours 
to-day  and  fewer  to-morrow."  With  such  an  an- 
nounced program  it  is  evident  there  can  be  no 
such  thing  as  a  permanent  adjustment.  In  clearly 
recognising  this  state  of  affairs,  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  there  should  be  a  demand  for  a  per- 
manent adjustment.  The  changing  and  develop- 
ing civilisation  by  its  very  nature  precludes  the 
final  settlement  of  any  practical  question.  New 
machinery,  new  methods  of  production,  new  con- 
ditions of  labour  change  the  problem.  The  single 
feature  of  the  increased  speed  of  machines  is  con- 
clusive for  a  shorter  day  provided  the  old  speed 
had  the  right  relation  to  the  length  of  the  day's 
work  then  current. 

The  whole  discussion  must  be  lifted,  however, 
to  a  higher  plane  than  is  possible  by  regarding 
the  workman  merely  as  a  producing  animal.  He 
is  one  of  the  agents  of  production,  but  he  is  also 
a  man.  He  has  latent  within  him  the  highest 
possibilities  of  intellectual  and  social  culture,  of 
intellectual  and  aesthetic  pleasure.  There  are 
within  him  all  the  elements  of  life.  Must  it  again 
be  repeated  that  human  life — the  life  of  the  work- 
ingman  also — consists  not  in  the  abundance  of 


62       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

the  things  he  may  possess,  nor  is  it  wholly  a  meas- 
ure of  human  capacity  to  say  that  a  man  working 
so  many  hours  can  produce  such  commodity.  The 
production  of  commodity  must  always  be  regarded 
as  only  an  incident  to  life,  an  important  incident, 
no  doubt,  but  real  human  production  is  not  in 
things  visible.  Eeal  human  production  is  in  char- 
acter, good  taste,  domestic  affections,  social  ca- 
pacity, and  all  those  higher  interests  which 
combine  to  make  the  man  greater  than  the  tool. 
Believing  that  these  interests  are  the  serious  part 
of  life,  one  must  demand  time  for  their  cultiva- 
tion. This  is  the  essential  argument  for  the 
shorter  day's  work,  but  we  must  not  be  too  ideal- 
istic. It  must  frankly  be  said  that  in  order  to  live 
in  this  world  the  material  things  for  sustaining 
the  animal  life  are  a  prime  essential.  The  people 
of  each  social  group  must  produce  enough  to  sat- 
isfy the  wants  of  the  group,  either  through  direct 
consumption  or  by  means  of  barter  with  the  mem- 
bers of  other  groups. 

Another  element  that  enters  into  the  discussion 
is  the  undoubted  fact  that  with  the  advance  of 
civilisation,  and  the  development  of  wants  on  the 
part  of  individuals,  the  amount  of  commodity  re- 
quired for  consumption  will  steadily  increase.     A' 


PRHIARY    DEMAXDS    OF    LABOUR     63 

highly  complex  social  order  and  an  increasingly 
compact  social  group  requires  more  commodity. 
The  discussion,  therefore,  at  present  cannot  at- 
tempt to  solve  the  question  for  all  time.  It  must 
only  consider  the  present  conditions  and  the  pres- 
ent demand.  The  workingmen  say  that  they  want 
an  eight-hour  day.  It  is  not  enough  to  say  that 
the  eight-hour  day  is  of  advantage  to  the  particular 
men  who  demand  it,  but  the  question  must  be 
studied  in  a  broad  way  by  considering  its  effect 
upon  society  at  large. 

The  workingmen  have  a  powerful  historic  argu- 
ment in  their  interest,  since  all  the  objections  that 
are  now  urged  to  the  shorter  day  were  urged  two 
generations  ago  against  the  ten-hour  day.  Xone 
of  these  gloomy  predictions  were  fulfilled.  Pro- 
duction has  greatly  increased.  This  is  not  due  to 
any  one  thing.  It  is  not  due  alone  to  the  conten- 
tion that  the  normal  man  cannot  work  eleven  or 
tweleve  hours  a  day  and  be  as  well  able  to  work  on 
succeeding  days — that  the  strain  is  an  overtax 
which  secures  its  revenge  upon  the  body  of  the 
toiler,  although  tliere  is  abundance  of  proof  that 
in  many  occupations  men  are  able  to  do  more 
work  in  ten  hours  than  they  could  formerly  do  in 
twelve  hours,  not  counting  the  increase  arising 


64       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

from  the  use  of  machinery.  The  production  of 
machine-made  machinery,  and  the  great  special- 
isation and  sub-division  in  mechanical  occupations 
are  all  elements  of  the  problem,  and  no  group  of 
men  would  argue  that  the  hands  of  the  clock  be 
turned  back,  and  that  we  return  to  the  conditions 
of  former  generations.  Whether  the  eight-hour 
day  would  be  as  successful  in  production  as  the 
ten-hour  day,  is  a  present  question  of  debate.  La- 
bour leaders  afBrm,  and  with  good  show  of  reason, 
that  there  is  evidence  that  production  will  not 
suffer  by  the  change,  but  that  the  eight-hour  day 
will  be  even  more  successful  from  the  point  of 
view  of  production  than  the  former  regime.  A 
recent  work  published  in  Belgium  by  Fromont 
recites  an  industrial  experience  in  the  reduction 
of  the  day's  work  from  ten  to  eight  hours  in  the 
chemical  factories  of  Engis.  Under  the  former 
system  the  men  worked  in  shifts  of  twelve  hours, 
each  putting  in  ten  and  one-half  hours'  actual  toil, 
with  rest  periods  of  an  hour  and  a  half.  Under 
the  new  system  they  work  eight  hours  a  day  in 
three  shifts,  each  group  putting  in  seven  and  one- 
half  hours  of  actual  toil.  After  a  very  full  ac- 
count of  the  whole  matter,  he  concludes  that  the 
result  was  not  only  favourable  to  the  workingmen, 


PKIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR    65 

but  was  economically  successful  to  the  company, 
and  we  have  here  an  employer  of  labour  publish- 
ing a  book  showing  the  advantages  to  the  business 
world  of  the  eight-hour  day.  The  illustration  is 
of  especial  importance  with  respect  to  all  those 
establishments  where  the  machinery  is  expensive, 
and  where  it  is  said  that  to  reduce  the  hours  of 
labour  not  alone  means  an  added  expense  in  wages, 
but  a  large  addition  in  interest  because  the  plant 
is  idle  so  much  longer.  There  are  twenty-four 
hours  in  the  day;  if  the  machinery  should  be  kept 
busy  during  the  whole  day  it  involves  three  shifts 
of  men  instead  of  two.  In  this  way  the  interest 
cost  is  reduced  very  much  more  than  the  wages 
are  increased,  and  the  men  are  so  much  better 
fitted  for  their  toil  that  the  increased  cost  of 
wages  will  not  be  great,  if,  indeed,  it  be  not  re- 
duced to  a  vanishing  point. 

Of  course  the  argument  for  great  factories 
will  not  cover  many  other  occupations  where 
the  pace  is  not  set  by  the  machine,  but  by 
the  workman  himself,  as,  for  example,  in  most  of 
the  building  trades.  If  there  is  a  criticism  of  the 
position  of  the  workmen  at  any  point,  it  is  that 
they  insist  too  strongly  upon  a  day  of  eight  hours 
for  all  occupations,  instead  of  insisting  upon  a 


66       THE    INDUSTRIAL    COJfFLICT 

shorter  day,  and  varying  the  length  of  the  day 
according  to  the  class  of  occupation.  I  suppose 
it  to  be  susceptible  of  proof  that  eight  hours'  toil 
in  certain  occupations  is  not  only  enough,  but  too 
much.  It  is  probably  equally  susceptible  of  proof 
that  there  are  occupations  in  which  ten  hours  is 
not  an  excessive  day's  work,  but  the  argument  is 
met  by  the  shrewd  manager  of  the  interests  of 
labour  when  he  says  that  it  is  impossible  in  the 
present  condition  of  affairs  to  enter  upon  such  a 
discussion;  that  in  order  to  win  a  battle,  all  the 
forces  must  be  united;  in  order  to  unite  all  the 
forces,  there  must  be  a  common  good  to  be  secured 
by  every  regiment  in  the  fight. 

But  it  would  be  easy  for  the  advocate  of  the 
shorter  day  to  boldly  challenge  the  foundations 
of  the  arguments  of  those  who  support  the  present 
system.  He  can  truly  say  that  production  has 
very  vastly  increased  through  the  operation  of  a 
number  of  causes.  The  question  is,  what  shall  be 
done  with  the  increase  of  productive  capacity? 
The  argument  for  the  simple  life  comes  in  here 
with  all  its  force.  Of  what  avail  is  it  to  have 
larger  houses  and  smaller  men?  What  profit  is  it 
to  have  better  clothes  for  the  body  and  ragged  gar- 
ments on  the  soul?     Why  fill  the  stomach  and 


PEI^IAEY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUE    67 

leave  the  mind  and  imagination  destitute  of  food  ? 
The  argument  is  that  increased  capacit}'  for  pro- 
duction ought  at  least  to  be  shared  between  the 
higher  and  the  lower  wants  of  man.  You  say, 
"  But  these  workmen  do  not  care  for  what  we  are 
pleased  to  call  the  higher  wants;  if  they  have 
leisure,  they  will  spend  it  in  dissipation;  if  they 
have  more  wages,  it  means  more  drink."  The 
argument  proves  too  much.  It  proves  that  the 
only  way  to  save  the  working  class  is  to  work  them 
to  the  limit  of  exhaustion.  The  outcome  of  the 
claim  is  that  the  higher  nature  is  impossible  to 
the  working  class.  That  proves  too  much.  The 
very  first  requisite  of  development  is  more  leisure. 
Without  question,  increase  of  leisure  has  often 
caused  a  temporar}-  bad  effect.  Men  released 
from  grinding  toil  with  neither  guidance  nor 
development  have  often  gone  wrong,  but  the  fact 
remains  that  the  only  hope  of  the  world  lies  in 
leisure  from  manual  toil  and  the  proper  employ- 
ment of  that  leisure.  All  experts  are  agreed  that 
one  of  the  chief  causes  of  drunkenness  and  every 
other  form  of  \\ce  is  toil  too  severe  and  too  long 
continued.  The  shorter  day  is  the  essential  need 
for  temperance  reform.  When  the  adjustment  of 
production  and  business  grants  leisure,  social  re- 


68       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

sponsibility  is  by  no  means  at  an  end.  It  is  then 
the  duty  of  society  to  lure  men  and  women  toward 
their  higher  interests  by  cheap  music,  free  art  gal- 
leries, free  libraries,  popular  lectures,  and  all  other 
forms  of  innocent  diversion  and  wise  stimulus  in 
right  directions  that  can  be  devised.  It  is  certain 
that  if  the  eight-hour  day  has  not  already  come, 
it  will  come  to-morrow.  The  wealth-producing 
power  of  the  world  goes  steadily  forward.  The 
shorter  day  is  logical.  The  shorter  day  also  in- 
volves widespread  social  duties. 

Another  insistent  demand  of  the  workingman  is 
for  higher  wages.  It  is  certain  that  all  organised 
labour  has  greatly  benefited  in  the  matter  of  wages 
by  the  fact  of  organisation.  The  workingman  de- 
mands shorter  hours,  and  at  the  same  time  wishes 
more  wages  for  the  short  day  than  he  formerly 
received  for  the  long  day.  He  does  not  under- 
stand why  it  is  that  some  men  should  have  enor- 
mous fortunes  and  live  in  unstinted  luxury  while 
he  is  compelled  to  practise  economy  and  self- 
denial.  He  wishes  to  so  readjust  the  industrial 
organisation  that  the  great  fortunes  of  the  few 
will  disappear  because  they  have  been  equitably 
distributed  among  the  many.  Some  men  have 
palaces,  yachts,  automobiles,  country  parks,    and 


PEIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR    69 

pleasure  grounds  while  he  lives  in  a  tenement  with 
narrow  outlook,  and  leads  a  still  narrower  life. 
He  has  adopted  the  doctrine  that  labour  is  the 
source  of  wealth,  as  preached  by  Adam  Smith  in 
his  "  Wealth  of  Nations,"  and  he  concludes  that 
if  labour  is  the  source  of  wealth,  the  labourer 
should  have  the  results  of  toil.  Here  again  we 
have  a  question  that  is  not  capable  of  definite  and 
precise  solution.  At  this  point,  too,  it  is  notice- 
able that  the  labouring  forces  divide.  While  there 
is  practical  unanimity  on  the  question  of  an  eight- 
hour  day,  there  is  no  uniform  scale  of  wages  that 
it  is  proposed  to  enforce  in  the  interests  of  all 
classes  of  labour.  Each  craft  makes  its  own  scale, 
yet  it  must  not  be  denied  that  the  wages  of  one 
class  affect  powerfully  the  wages  of  another  class, 
not  alone  in  those  trades  which  are  intimately 
allied,  but  in  general  by  the  effect  of  that  imita- 
tion among  men  which  demands  that  if  the 
standard  of  living  is  raised  for  one  group  of 
workmen  it  must  be  raised  also  for  another.  The 
question  of  wages  is  more  difficult  than  almost  any 
other  in  connection  with  the  labour  problem,  be- 
cause the  effect  of  increased  wages  does  not  seem 
to  be  uniform  in  all  occupations.  The  cost  of 
production   is   summed  up   in   interest,   superin- 


70       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

tendence,  and  wages  under  the  present  industrial 
system.  I  assume  that  the  present  industrial  sys- 
tem will  continue  for  a  long  time,  and  at  least  so 
far  as  the  present  generation  is  concerned,  the  dis- 
cussion of  Utopian  social  organisation  is  not  prac- 
tical. Now,  if  wages  be  increased  to  the  point 
where  they  absorb  all  the  margin  of  profit,  they 
must  at  least  leave  enough  to  pay  for  interest  and 
superintendence,  for  if  these  are  not  paid,  the  busi- 
ness will  become  bankrupt  and  the  wages  will 
cease.  There  is,  therefore,  a  necessary  limit  to 
wages  in  every  occupation.  The  workman  declares 
that  he  does  not  receive  his  fair  share ;  that  interest 
rates  are  too  high;  that  superintendence  costs  too 
much;  and  that  the  profits  of  the  business  above 
normal  interest,  wages,  and  superintendence  al- 
ways go  to  capital.  There  is  another  way  that 
wages  can  be  increased,  and  practically  it  is  the 
only  way  in  which  they  will  be  increased,  and  that 
is  by  the  increased  price  of  the  product.  To  put 
it  concretely,  take  the  building  trades:  If  wages 
rise  in  the  building  trades,  it  is  not  the  contractor 
who  pays  them  unless  they  rise  suddenly  after  he 
has  made  his  contract,  and  then  he  has  the  future 
for  his  revenge  upon  the  public.  If  wages  in  the 
building  trades  rise,  it  is  an  added  item  of  cost. 


PEIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR    71 

and  the  people  who  build  and  own  houses  must 
pay  the  increased  amount.  That  means,  in  the 
long  run,  that  rents  will  rise,  and  most  of  the 
workingmen  pay  rent.  If  the  shoemakers  secure 
an  increase  of  wages,  it  increases  the  price  of 
shoes;  the  workingmen  wear  shoes.  The  same 
thing  is  true  of  every  commodity.  Increase  the 
cost  of  production  at  any  point,  and  you  increase 
the  price  to  the  consumer.  This  opens  the  ques- 
tion as  to  what  real  wages  are.  Real  wages,  of 
course,  cannot  be  measured  in  terms  of  money. 
A  man  may  have  $4  per  day  under  one  set  of  con- 
ditions, and  $3  per  day  under  another  set  of  con- 
ditions, and  if  the  $3  per  day  has  greater  purchas- 
ing power  than  the  $4  per  day,  he  receives  the  larg- 
est wages  when  he  has  $3  per  day.  The  situation 
must  be  clearly  recognised.  If  wages  rise  in  a 
particular  craft  and  do  not  rise  generally,  that 
craft  will  profit,  but  it  is  impossible  on  account  of 
the  social  solidarity  of  the  industrial  world  that 
wages  should  permanently  rise  in  one  craft  and 
not  rise  relatively  in  others.  Increase  of  wages 
means  an  increased  cost  of  production,  and  the  in- 
creased cost  of  production  must,  in  the  long  run, 
be  paid  by  the  consumer,  or  else  production  will 
cease. 


72       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

It  is  better  for  society  that  there  should  be  a 
general  distribution  of  wealth.  It  is  in  the  en- 
richment of  human  life  every  way  that  the  work- 
ingman  should  receive  an  adequate  reward  for  his 
toil,  but  it  must  be  recognised  that  under  the 
present  conditions  there  are  natural  limits  to  the 
increase  of  wages. 

These  considerations,  however,  do  not  state  with 
any  exactness  the  present  nature  of  the  problem. 
The  employer  has  been  for  generations  in  the  habit 
of  fixing  wages.  He  says  to  a  man :  "  I  will  pay 
so  much  per  day,"  and  the  man  may  either  take 
the  job  or  leave  it.  The  labour  unions  purpose  to 
reverse  all  this.  They  say :  "  We  will  fix  the 
scale  of  wages.  No  man  in  our  union  shall  work 
for  you  at  less  than  the  minimum  wage  prescribed 
by  our  rules."  "Wage  earners  propose  to  act  in 
groups,  and  to  be  free,  as  Mr.  Guiney  puts  it,  to 
bargain  for  the  sale  of  their  labour  on  the  collective 
principle. 

When  the  president  of  Yale  University,  some 
years  ago,  proposed  publicity  as  a  remedy  for  cor- 
porate evils,  it  was  evident  that  the  reception  of 
the  remedy  by  the  public  was  not  based  upon  a  full 
conception  of  all  its  implications.  Publicity  is  a 
more  far-reaching  thing  than  most  people  suppose. 


PEIMARY   DEMANDS    OF    LABOUH    73 

Would  it  not  be  better  for  all  parties  concerned  to 
be  perfectly  frank  in  regard  to  the  situation? 
Should  not  the  books  of  every  corporation  be  open 
to  the  inspection  of  properly  constituted  authori- 
ties ?  There  are  not  alone  profits  in  conducting  a 
business,  but  there  are  also  losses.  Would  it  not 
be  better  to  take  the  representatives  of  labour  into 
the  confidence  of  their  respective  firms  about  this 
matter  of  profits  and  losses,  so  that  they  would 
have  a  basis  for  determining  the  amount  of  the 
wages  that  would  be  at  least  roughly  mathe- 
matical, instead  of  acting  by  the  compulsive  power 
of  organisation  which  may,  of  course,  be  carried  to 
such  limits  as  to  bring  ruin  upon  the  industrial 
community?  We  are  reaching  a  point  in  indus- 
trial life  when  the  rigid  individualism  of  the  past 
is  sure  to  be  dissolved.  The  employer  says: 
"  This  shop  or  factory  is  my  business."  The  wage 
earner  says  with  an  articulative  voice  that  quite 
startles  those  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  find- 
ing him  dumb :  "  I  am  a  necessary  part  of  this 
business,  and  I  propose  to  have  a  voice  in  its 
affairs."  Meantime,  the  public  at  large  has  in- 
terest in  that  business  also,  for  it  is  the  public 
which  is  the  final  cause  for  the  existence  of  the 
business,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  three 


74       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

parties  that  must  ultimately  be  considered — the 
employer,  the  employed,  and  the  public.  The 
rigid  individualism  of  which  I  have  spoken  rebels 
at  the  idea  of  the  workmen  making  a  scale  of 
wages.  The  employer  proposes  to  do  that  him- 
self. He  rebels  still  more  at  public  authority  to 
disclose  the  nature  of  his  business  and  the  amount 
of  his  profit  or  loss.  He  says  such  a  method  would 
destroy  competition,  rob  prudence  and  skill  of 
their  natural  rewards,  and  is  really  another  name 
for  soclialism;  but  examination  of  national  banks, 
the  publication  of  their  statements,  does  not  pre- 
vent financial  business  going  forward.  It  cer- 
tainly does  not  make  the  bank  clerks  more  insistent 
and  obtrusive  than  other  classes  of  employees,  and 
it  is  regarded  by  the  public  as  a  highly  useful 
function  of  government.  If  labour  continues  to 
show  an  increasing  genius  for  organisation,  and 
does  as  much  in  that  direction  in  the  next  twenty- 
five  years  as  in  the  past  twenty-five  years,  there 
will  be  nothing  left  for  the  employer  to  do  for 
his  own  protection  but  to  appeal  to  his  books. 
There  is  a  sense  of  justice  deep  in  the  hearts  of 
men,  and  interest  and  superintendence  will  con- 
tinue to  be  paid.  The  employer  will  still  have  a 
fair  reward  for  his  labour  and  his  risks,  nor  will 


PEIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR    75 

he  be  compelled  to  bear  the  common  loss  himself. 
If  the  workmen  enjoy  a  rapid  increase  of  wages  in 
times  of  prosperity,  they  must  also  suffer  a  reduc- 
tion of  wages  in  times  of  adversity.  This  intro- 
duces a  critical  element  into  the  problem.  The 
workingman  is  prepared  to  spend  the  surplus,  but 
he  is  not  always  prepared  to  bear  the  loss.  The 
employer  may  have  credit  enough  to  tide  him  over 
six  months  or  a  year  of  bad  business,  but  the  work- 
ingman, who  is  in  the  habit  of  consuming  all  or 
nearly  all  of  his  wages,  has  little  reserve.  A  re- 
serve must  be  created,  either  through  the  funds  of 
the  labour  unions  or,  what  will  probably  be  better 
still,  through  some  system  of  sinking  fund  or  in- 
surance that  will  make  the  fat  years  feed  the  lean 
years. 

In  order  to  enforce  his  demands  for  a  shorter  day 
and  a  larger  wage,  the  workingman  wants  the  closed 
shop.  This,  of  course,  is  one  of  the  burning  ques- 
tions of  the  present  hour  in  certain  occupations, 
and  it  has  in  it  the  elements  of  combustion  for  all 
occupations  in  every  time  of  struggle.  The  reason 
the  workingman  wants  the  closed  shop  is  not  far 
to  seek.  It  gives  him  control  of  the  situation. 
If  employers  agree  that  no  one  shall  be  engaged  to 
work  in  any  occupation  who  is  not  satisfactory  to 


,76       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

the  labour  unions,  the  labour  unions  can  thus 
dictate  terms  both  of  time  and  of  money.  This 
seems  intolerable  to  the  employer,  who  says,  "  I 
am  not  permitted  to  control  my  own  business;  the 
rules  for  the  management  of  my  business  are  laid 
down  by  people  who  have  not  put  a  dollar  into  it, 
and  they  are  prescribed  by  men  who  do  not  even 
belong  to  my  own  working  force."  The  constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  has  been  invoked  in  the 
interests  of  freedom  for  the  employer  to  engage 
and  for  the  non-union  man  to  work  on  such  terms 
as  they  may  mutually  agree.  The  employer  mag- 
nanimously says,  "  I  have  no  objection  to  the 
labour  union;  it  is  an  excellent  thing  very  likely 
for  a  man  to  belong  to  it,  but  I  do  not  propose 
to  recognise  union  or  non-union  men  in  my  busi- 
ness. I  certainly  will  not  discriminate  against  the 
union  man,  but  neither  will  I  discriminate  against 
anyone  else.  I  will  employ  the  man  who  can  do 
the  work  I  want  done,  and  I  intend  to  be  my  own 
judge  of  his  fitness  for  the  task."  All  this  sounds 
highly  reasonable,  and  until  one  has  thought  about 
it,  it  would  seem  as  though  there  could  be  no  argu- 
ment upon  the  other  side,  and  5ret  the  labour  union 
is  without  doubt  fighting  for  its  life  when  it  de- 
mands the  closed  shop.     It  is  not  simply  a  question 


PRIMARY    DEMAXDS    OF    LABOUR    77 

of  whether  an  employer  shall  have  liberty  to  em- 
ploy whom  he  will;  for  the  workingman  it  is  a 
question  as  to  whether  his  labour  union  has  any 
reason  longer  to  exist.  Unless  the  labour  union 
includes  the  men  engaged  in  the  craft,  or  at  least 
so  many  of  them  as  shall  form  a  necessary  part  of 
the  labour  without  which  the  business  cannot  be 
carried  on,  it  is  powerless.  The  attitude  of  the 
labour  union  is  perfectly  defensible  when  it  says: 
"  If  you  employ  non-union  men,  we  will  not  work 
for  you."  The  labour  union  involves  a  burden. 
It  takes  some  time  and  it  costs  some  money.  Un- 
less it  has  practical  advantages  in  business,  it  can 
no  longer  exist.  If  the  non-union  man  can  get 
along  quite  as  well  as  the  union  man,  and  indeed 
has  a  little  more  sympathy  and  interest  with  the 
employer  because  he  is  a  non-union  man,  the 
unions  must  cease  to  exist.  If  the  union  ceases  to 
exist,  labour  is  once  again  to  be  dealt  with  as  in- 
dividuals, who  may  be  subdued  one  by  one.  Were 
I  in  the  ranks  of  organised  labour,  I  should  cer- 
tainly do  my  very  best  to  secure  the  closed  shop, 
nor  would  I  be  seduced  by  offers  of  a  short  day 
or  of  higher  wages  to  consent  to  the  open  shop,  for 
such  is  human  nature  that  as  soon  as  the  open 
shop  is  established  as  a  recognised  right  of  the  em- 


78       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

ployer,  it  will  also  be  seen  to  be  a  bulwark  for  the 
employer,  and  an  ally  for  his  purpose  if  he  desires 
to  be  a  tyrant.  Nor  does  the  closed  shop  give  the 
workingman  the  enormous  advantage  that  is  some- 
times supposed.  It  only  puts  him  in  a  position 
to  treat  with  the  employer  for  the  terms  upon 
which  they  shall  labour  together.  A  labour  union 
by  extravagant  demands  may  easily  wreck  a  busi- 
ness, but  no  labour  union,  however  powerful,  can 
permanently  secure  either  higher  wages  or  a 
shorter  day's  work  than  the  business  can  afford 
to  give. 

The  doctrine  of  the  closed  shop  is  often  car- 
ried much  further.  The  labour  unions  claim 
the  right  to  persuade  those  who  are  not  union  men 
to  refuse  to  work  for  an  employer  with  whom  they 
have  a  controversy.  The  right  of  public  or 
private  discussion  that  is  not  seditious  is  certainly 
guaranteed  by  free  institutions.  The  labour 
unions  have  the  greatest  interest  in  the  world  to 
seek  to  make  it  impossible  to  carry  on  business 
without  them.  They,  therefore,  have  the  right  to 
use  every  lawful  means  in  their  power  to  make  it 
impossible  for  men  to  be  secured  to  fill  their 
places.  The  closed  shop  is  as  vital  to  organised 
labour  as  it  is  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  the 
employer. 


PEIMAEY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUE    79 

The  union  men  understand  perfectly  well  that 
the  closed  shop  is  essential  to  all  their  plans  and 
hopes.  If  they  are  only  to  have  the  same  rights 
as  men  who  are  not  organised,  the  very  basis  of 
the  organisation  is  destroyed.  This  fact  is  just  as 
well  understood  by  the  employers  as  it  is  by  the 
workingmen.  Mr.  J.  Kirby,  Jr.,  in  an  address 
delivered  before  the  National  Association  of  Manu- 
facturers at  New  Orleans  in  1903,  on  the  attitude 
of  associations  of  employers  toward  labour  unions, 
argues  for  the  open  shop  in  order  to  kill  the  unions, 
and  urges  united  action  on  the  part  of  all  em- 
ployers of  labour  toward  that  end.     He  says : 

"  But  what  are  we  going  to  do  about  it  ?  That 
is  the  question  which  most  concerns  us  all.  Do 
we  have  to  submit  to  its  dictations?  Must  we 
bow  our  heads  and  hold  up  our  hands  in  recogni- 
tion of  its  dignity  and  might?  Must  we  surrender 
our  citizenship  on  the  order  of  the  business  agent 
or  walking  delegate  of  a  labour  union,  and  conduct 
our  business  only  in  such  manner  as  he  may 
choose  to  dictate?  Would  we,  as  a  nation,  toler- 
ate such  imposition  from  any  other  country? 

"  No,  we  would  not.  We  would  sacrifice  our 
lives  and  the  lives  of  our  sons,  our  time  and  our 
money,  in  destroying  or  attempting  to  destroy  an 


80       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

enemy  who  would  dare  to  inflict  upon  us  as  a 
nation  the  wrongs  and  oppressions  which  organ- 
ised labour  everywhere  is  daily  heaping  upon  us  as 
individuals.  Where,  then,  is  the  remedy,  for 
remedy  must  come  from  some  source.  My  con- 
clusions are  that  the  only  remedy  will  be  found  in 
thorough  organisation  of  employers  whose  cardinal 
principles  shall  be  to  protect  and  encourage  the 
wage  earner  in  the  exercise  of  his  right  to  sell  his 
labour  to  whom  he  pleases,  and  at  what  price  he 
pleases,  and  to  protect  the  industrious  workman 
in  his  right  to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities 
which  fall  in  his  way,  and  which  right  he  must 
needs  surrender  the  moment  he  is  enrolled  as  a 
member  of  a  labour  union." 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  issue  is  joined,  and 
that  both  parties  to  the  controversy  understand 
perfectly  well  what  they  are  talking  about,  and 
whichever  wins  in  this  battle,  wins  the  whole  fight, 
and  can  control  the  situation  just  so  far  as  it  is 
subject  to  human  action.  It  must  be  pointed  out, 
however,  that  this  is  always  subordinate  to  the 
economic  structure  of  society  taken  as  a  whole. 

It  is  urged  that  the  closed  shop  is  an  injustice 
to  non-union  labour.    The  fact  is,  this  is  a  rough- 


PRIMARY    DEMANDS    OF    LABOUR    81 

and-tumble  figlit,  and  the  tramp  of  the  hosts  can- 
not be  stopped  by  obstacles  which  appeal  purely  to 
sentiment.  It  must  be  bluntly  admitted  that  the 
non-union  man  will  suffer  in  case  the  unions  suc- 
ceed in  their  purpose.  He  will  be  kept  out  of  em- 
ployment; his  only  recourse  will  be  to  make  terms 
with  the  union  on  his  side,  just  as  the  employer 
will  be  compelled  to  treat  with  the  union  upon  his 
side.  The  victory  for  the  union  is  quite  as  much 
a  victory  against  unorganised  labour  as  it  is 
against  the  organisation  of  the  employers.  There 
are  just  two  points  to  be  considered  in  mitigation 
of  the  apparent  damage  done.  The  first  is,  that 
if  the  union  is  not  profitable  to  those  who  belong 
to  it,  it  must  certainly  fail;  but  if  it  is  profitable 
to  its  members,  it  will  also  be  profitable  to  the  non- 
union men,  and  the  doors  are  swinging  open  for 
them  to  enter.  If  it  be  said  that  there  are  work- 
ingmen  who  are  so  individualistic  that  they  would 
never  consent  to  join  a  union,  it  must  be  replied 
that  such  individualism,  even  if  it  be  a  virtue, 
must  wear  its  martyr's  crown.  In  the  organisa- 
tion of  society  men  cannot  choose  to  stand  alone 
in  order  to  enjoy  the  freedom  of  their  solitude 
and  at  the  same  time  expect  to  have  the  advant- 
ages that  can  only  come  from  co-operation.     It 


82       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

may  further  be  added  that  the  success  of  organised 
labour  will  raise  the  condition  of  the  workingman 
to  as  high  a  point  of  comfort  as  can  be  secured 
under  the  existing  economic  conditions.  There 
would  seem  to  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  such  a 
state  of  affairs  will  be  for  the  benefit  of  society  as 
a  whole.  It  will  enlarge  the  range  of  consump- 
tion, it  will  multiply  human  wants,  it  will,  there- 
fore, increase  production,  and  at  the  same  time 
create  a  larger  demand  for  labour.  In  the  long 
run,  it  will  be  impossible  for  the  organised  sec- 
tion of  labour  to  succeed  without  at  the  same  time 
improving  the  conditions  of  all  labour,  though  it 
may  freely  be  granted  that  that  is  not  the  purpose 
of  the  men  engaged  in  fashioning  and  guiding 
organisation. 


IV 
SECONDAEY  DEMANDS   OF  LABOUR 

Unorganised  Labour — Woman  and  Labour — 
Public  Sanitation — The  Personal  Touch — Child 
Labour  Problem — The  Industrial  Democracy. 

In  one  of  the  letters  it  is  to  be  noted  that  a  plea 
is  made  in  the  interest  of  the  unskilled  workman 
without  a  union,  without  an  advocate,  and  without 
defence.  For  manifest  reasons,  forms  of  labour 
which  require  little  or  no  preparation  for  a  suc- 
cessful toil  cannot  easily  become  organised  labour. 
This  not  alone  applies  to  the  ordinary  hewer  of 
wood  and  drawer  of  water,  the  digger  of  ditches 
and  the  performer  of  menial  tasks,  but  certain 
occupations  which  are  regarded  as  desirable  ones 
are  also  difficult  to  organise.  Clerks  in  stores, 
workmen  in  wholesale  houses,  have  shown  scarcely 
more  skill  or  capacity  for  organisation  than  have 
the  day  labourers.  Women  in  factories  and 
women  in  domestic  service  have  also  shown  little 
capacity  for  labour  organisation.  It  may  seem 
that  indirectly  the  success  of  organised  labour  is 
to  the  advantage  of  all,  but  practically  this  con- 
83 


84       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

elusion  is  to  be  doubted.  Where  organised  labour 
receives  a  large  compensation,  it  is  natural  that 
the  burden  of  production,  always  interested  in 
cheapness,  should  bear  heavily  upon  that  portion 
of  labour  in  any  enterprise  which  is  unorganised. 
Relatively,  it  may  easily  be  shown  that  unorgan- 
ised labour  has  suffered  in  the  matter  of  compen- 
sation. Those  handicrafts  which  require  com- 
paratively little  skill,  such  for  example  as  house 
painting  or  paper  hanging,  have  never  been  as 
successful  in  organising  as  those  requiring  greater 
skill.  The  attitude  of  organised  labour  toward 
those  various  classes  is,  on  the  whole,  benevolent, 
but  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  there  is  another 
class  of  unorganised  labour  with  which  the  labour 
unions  must,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  wage 
relentless  war.  That  is  with  the  men  who  are 
skilled  in  some  of  the  crafts  which  are  largely  or- 
ganised, and  who  prefer  to  remain  outside  of  the 
union.  It  is  obvious  that  the  interests  of  these 
two  parties  clash  so  completely  that  any  mode  of 
life  together  is  practically  impossible.  Finally, 
the  unions  must  either  include  all  the  workmen 
of  the  craft  who  are  permitted  to  work,  or  the 
unions  must  be  dissolved.  This  is  as  irrepressible 
as  the  portentous  conflict  between  the  North  and 


SECONDAKY  DEMANDS   OF  LABOUR    85 

South  fifty  years  ago.  It  seems  very  strange  that 
it  is  not  universally  recognised. 

The  problem  of  women  in  labour  is  by  no  means 
a  settled  question.  Many  labour  leaders  believe 
that  the  increasing  presence  of  women  in  competi- 
tion with  men  in  the  various  industries  has  been 
an  evil  to  both  sexes.  The  doctrine  of  the  eco- 
nomic freedom  of  woman  and  her  right  to  en- 
gage in  any  and  every  occupation  is  not  a  sex 
question  nor  a  social  question,  but  it  is  a  profound 
economic  question.  In  those  countries  where 
women  and  children  work  with  the  least  question 
and  with  the  most  approval,  the  wages  are  reduced 
to  such  a  point  that  it  requires  the  combined 
labour  of  all  the  working  members  of  the  family 
to  support  the  family.  The  general  effect  of 
woman  in  labour  has  been  to  lower  wages  among 
men,  and  particularly  in  those  employments  that 
are  not  affected  by  labour  organisation,  but  it  is 
not  possible  in  this  place  to  give  any  adequate  dis- 
cussion of  the  question  of  women  in  labour,  and 
yet  it  is  a  question  that  must  be  discussed  more 
and  more  in  time  to  come. 

A  number  of  laws  have  been  passed  in  various 
States  to  protect  women.  In  some  States  they  are 
forbidden    employment   in    certain    diflficult    and 


86       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

dangerous  occupations.  In  a  very  few  States  there 
are  laws  forbidding  their  employment  in  night 
work.  Women  have  shown  little  capacity  for  or- 
ganisation, and  they  have  very  little  protection. 
It  is  not  alone  the  interest  of  the  individual  woman 
that  is  at  stake,  but  it  is  the  future  of  the  nation 
that  is  wrapped  up  in  her  future.  Overworked 
and  underfed  men  constitute  a  menace,  but  over- 
worked and  underfed  women  are  a  moral  peril 
and  a  physical  disaster. 

The  workingmen  demand  public  sanitation  and 
better  homes  in  the  interests  of  the  labouring  class. 
There  has  been  a  great  awakening  of  the  public 
conscience  in  England  and  in  Germany,  and  in 
some  parts  of  the  United  States,  with  reference 
to  the  tenement-house  question.  This  is  a  problem 
that  is  not  severely  felt  in  the  smaller  towns.  For 
convenience  the  workingman  must  live  near  hia 
work.  It  is  not  easy,  when  the  best  efforts  are 
used,  to  make  life  sweet  and  gracious  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  shops  and  factories.  Park  sys- 
tems, sewers,  the  water  supply  and  street  cleaning, 
are  frequently  carried  on  in  cities  largely  in  the 
interests  of  the  wealthier  classes.  There  is  prob- 
ably not  a  city  in  the  country  where  what  is  known 
as  the   poorer  quarters   have   anything  like  the 


SECONDARY   DEMANDS   OF   LABOUR    87 

attention  of  the  municipal  authorities  that  is 
bestowed  upon  the  neighbourhoods  inhabited  by  the 
well-to-do.  This  is  partly  because  the  people  have 
not  been  awakened  as  to  their  proper  rights,  and 
it  is  partly  because  society  has  not  been  quickened 
to  see  its  manifest  duties.  A  vigilant  health  de- 
partment with  ample  power  is  the  only  safeguard 
for  the  plain  people.  The  death  rate  which  is 
averaged  by  cities  as  so  many  per  thousand,  is  ter- 
ribly unequal  between  the  wards  of  the  same  city. 
This,  of  course,  is  partly  due  to  lack  of  knowledge 
in  the  care  of  health,  lack  of  wisdom  in  the  choice 
and  preparation  of  foods,  and  to  the  ignorance  of 
the  various  means  for  the  preservation  of  human 
life,  but  there  is  a  considerable  part  of  the  sickness 
and  mortality  in  tenement-house  districts  which  is 
directly  chargeable  upon  the  public. 

There  is  a  tone  of  bitterness  in  the  statement 
that  workingmen  "  want  employers  to  be  chris- 
tians seven  days  in  the  week,  and  to  carry  their 
Christianity  into  their  everyday  lives."  This  bit- 
terness is  accented  when  employers  who  are  known 
to  be  severe,  and  sometimes  penurious  with  their 
workmen,  are  still  greatly  interested  in  educational 
and  philanthropic  enterprises  to  which  they  give 
large  sums  of  money.     There  is  something  pathetic 


88       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

also  in  the  demand  on  the  part  of  workingmen  for 
the  human  touch.  They  ask  for  the  kind  heart, 
the  neighbourly  recognition,  the  outstretched  hand. 
It  may  be  frankly  said  that  in  all  large  enterprises 
this  is  very  difficult  to  give.  Time  was  when  most 
production  was  carried  on  in  very  small  groups  of 
men,  one  of  whom  was  the  employer,  who  laboured 
side  by  side  with  the  men  to  whom  he  paid  wages. 
Fraternal  relations  existed  between  these  men 
whose  financial  conditions  were  not  very  far  apart, 
but  in  the  days  of  consolidation,  of  organisation,  of 
immense  capital,  of  huge  enterprises,  where  thou- 
sands of  men  are  employed  under  one  manage- 
ment, the  old  relations  are  no  longer  possible. 
There  are  heads  of  departments  who  may  know 
casually  the  most  of  the  men  under  their  immediate 
charge,  but  the  great  superintendents  of  labour 
know  only  the  heads  of  departments.  It  is  through 
them  that  they  receive  reports  and  gain  their 
knowledge  of  conditions.  There  is  probably 
scarcely  any  class  of  men  who  know  so  little  about 
the  actual  lives  of  the  working  class  as  the  great 
employers  of  labour.  These  men  have  their  wives 
and  children;  they  have  their  little  homes,  and 
they  have  the  same  loves,  the  same  needs,  the  same 
hopes  and  fears,  as  the  great  captains  of  industry, 


SECONDAKY   DEMANDS   OF  LABOUR    89 

but  to  the  captains  of  industry  they  are  not  per- 
sonal existences  at  all.  They  know  nothing  of 
the  heartaches,  the  ambitions,  the  temptations  of 
the  multitude  of  men  who  are  a  part  of  the  great 
mechanism  which  furnishes  their  power.  Some 
great  enterprises  have  organised  various  social 
schemes  for  the  betterment  of  the  employees. 
Sometimes  employers  have  been  disappointed  be- 
cause these  things  have  not  been  received  in  the 
spirit  in  which  they  have  been  given.  The  work- 
men are  often  suspicious.  Like  the  Trojans,  they 
fear  the  Greeks  bearing  gifts.  If  the  employers 
have  money  to  spare  for  the  workmen,  they  prefer 
to  receive  that  extra  money  in  the  shape  of  in- 
creased wages.  They  prefer  to  spend  the  money 
themselves.  There  is  scarcely  an}i;hing  that 
American  workmen  dissent  from  so  much  as  from 
the  various  efforts  to  treat  them  as  a  proper  object 
of  philanthropy.  Over  and  over  again  the  work- 
man says,  "  What  we  want  is  justice."  This  does 
not  mean  that  he  does  not  welcome  every  form  of 
assistance  from  the  social  body  toward  giving  him 
external  conditions  of  life  that  are  favourable  for 
the  health  of  himself  and  his  family.  It  does  not 
mean  that  he  is  not  willing  and  eager  to  partake 
in  public  bounties  of  education,  museums,  and  art 


90       THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

collections  which  are  established  freely  for  the  en- 
tire community.  What  he  resents  is  such  treat- 
ment as  seeks  to  establish  a  class  position  for  him 
and  class  favours  from  those  who  are  supposed  to 
be  above  him. 

One  of  the  most  insistent  demands  of  labour  is 
for  the  protection  of  children.  The  first  law  for 
the  protection  of  children  was  passed  in  England 
in  1802,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  battle  ought 
to  have  been  won  by  this  time.  In  all  the  States 
of  the  Union  except  three  there  are  laws  for  the 
protection  of  children.  The  laws  vary  very  much, 
but  in  substance  they  aim  to  secure  an  opportunity 
for  a  common-school  education  for  every  child, 
and  to  prevent  his  employment  under  fourteen 
years  of  age.  Many  of  the  States  forbid  their  em- 
ployment at  night  work.  Some  people  suppose 
that  the  campaign  on  behalf  of  the  children  is  over, 
and  that  the  battle  is  won. 

Meantime,  of  the  labourers  emplo3'ed  in  the 
United  States  to-day  two  millions  are  children 
under  sixteen  years  of  age.  It  is  evident  that  if 
these  two  millions  of  children  were  eliminated  from 
the  labour  supply  there  would  not  be  a  man  fitted 
for  work  who  would  not  find  his  opportunity. 
This  is  the  grotesque  thing  that  history  wiU  have 


SECONDAEY  DEMANDS   OF  LABOUE    91 

to  say  about  our  generation :  "  These  queer  people 
overworked  those  who  were  employed,  and  used 
their  little  children  to  produce  commodity  for  the 
benefit  of  the  social  group,  while  an  ever-continu- 
ing multitude  of  those  who  might  have  worked 
were  left  out  of  work  on  these  two  grounds."  Our 
generation  revolts  at  piracy,  at  slavery,  at  duelling, 
and  other  evils  of  the  past,  but  the  conditions  of 
child  labour  are  so  much  worse  than  any  or  all 
three  of  these  evils  combined  that  it  seems  re- 
markable that  public  intelligence  is  so  lacking  and 
public  conscience  so  weak.  Careful  study  of  the 
character  and  condition  of  many  of  the  unem- 
ployed, who  seem  unfit  for  employment,  either  by 
lack  of  energy  or  lack  of  strength,  reveals  that  a 
considerable  percentage  of  these  derelicts  on  the 
sea  of  life  were  those  who  were  themselves  over- 
worked in  childhood.  Eecently  there  have  been 
many  studies  in  England  of  the  degeneration  of 
the  physical  type.  The  Boer  War  revealed  that 
large  numbers  of  those  who  offered  for  enlistment 
did  not  meet  the  requirements  of  the  physical 
standard.  It  was  actually  necessary  to  reduce  the 
standard  in  the  army  to  fill  the  ranks,  and  the  de- 
pleted physiques  sent  to  Africa  were  not  so  much 
the  prey  of  Dutch  bullets  as  they  were  of  African 


92       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

disease.  We  may  be  instructed  by  the  conditions 
in  England.  During  the  last  150  years  England 
has  been  changed  from  an  agricultural  country  to 
a  people  largely  living  in  cities.  Farms  have  be- 
come parks,  and  farm  labourers  and  their  descend- 
ants, herded  in  tenement  houses,  live  in  the  squalor 
of  city  slums.  The  result  has  been  that  the  de- 
scendants of  the  sturdy  men  who  made  the 
Anglo-Saxon  name  a  glory  the  vrorld  around  are 
being  reduced  to  the  physical  level  of  the  Latin 
races.  America  may  well  heed  the  lesson.  One 
hundred  years  ago  three  per  cent,  of  our  people 
lived  in  cities;  now  thirty  per  cent,  live  in  cities, 
and  to-morrow  it  will  be  sixty  per  cent. 

One  reason  why  many  of  our  leaders  do  not  feel 
the  importance  of  the  problem  of  child  labour  is 
because  they  themselves  came  from  the  farm  where 
they  were  accustomed  to  work  as  children,  but  they 
had  the  free  breezes  of  heaven,  they  had  the  gleam- 
ing sunshine,  and  the  singing  of  birds,  and  in  the 
variety  of  work,  above  all,  they  had  the  develop- 
ment of  personal  initiative.  Besides,  there  were 
long  periods  of  the  year  when  work  was  practically 
suspended,  and  after  toil  they  had  an  abundance 
of  the  joy  of  life.  City  labour  is  entirely  different. 
The  child   fastened  to  a  machine  by   the  daily 


SECONDARY   DEMANDS   OF  LABOUR    93 

routine  of  his  work  is  simply  numbed  into  an 
animate  part  of  the  business.  His  work  calls  for 
no  thought;  his  mind  has  no  expansion;  he  toils 
in  physical  weariness  until  another  day  comes  to 
make  still  further  inroads  upon  the  possible  man. 
Wicked  as  is  the  effect  upon  the  boy,  it  is  still 
more  alarming  in  the  case  of  the  girl.  The  possi- 
ble wife  and  mother  has  the  reserved  vitality  of 
her  womanhood  stolen  from  her  before  that 
womanhood  has  dawned.  It  is  the  pledge  of  de- 
generation for  the  race  in  the  next  generation. 
Notwithstanding  the  laws,  in  coal  mines  and  in 
cotton  mills,  North  and  South,  the  life  blood  of  the 
race  is  being  offered  upon  the  altars  of  greed. 
Nor  is  it  due  alone  to  the  rapacity  of  employers. 
It  is  quite  as  much  due  to  the  ignorance  and  the 
folly  of  parents.  Where  certificates  are  required 
by  law  for  the  age  and  schooling  of  the  child, 
parents  who  wish  their  work  and  the  pittance 
which  it  brings  deliberately  falsify  both  the  age 
of  the  child  and  the  time  he  has  spent  in  school. 
Children  need  to  be  protected  from  their  own  flesh 
and  blood.  A  large  element  in  making  of  arti- 
ficial flowers  is  that  of  children  from  four  to 
twelve  years  of  age  in  the  homes  of  working  women. 
I  never  look  upon  a  woman's  bonnet  without  won- 


94       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

dering  what  limp  and  tired  child's  fingers  may 
have  helped  to  fashion  that  beauty.  It  is  aston- 
ishing how  slow  some  of  these  reforms  are.  It 
took  twenty-five  years  in  England  to  limit  the 
labour  of  a  child  of  nine  years  to  sixty-nine  hours 
a  week.  It  will  probably  take  twenty-five  years 
longer  to  win  the  campaign  against  child  labour 
in  the  United  States. 

Child  labour  is  the  enemy  of  personal  and  public 
health.  It  prevents  that  degree  of  education  that 
will  make  the  child  available;  it  robs  the  child  of 
the  opportunity  for  normal  human  development. 
It  adds  a  very  small  sum  to  the  productive  value 
of  present  labour,  at  the  fearful  cost  of  bankrupt 
human  life  and  industrial  incapacity  in  the  next 
generation.  Many  people  who  have  conscience 
about  child  labour  in  factories  and  are  horrified 
to  hear  that  children  sit  in  clouds  of  dust  and  pick 
slate  out  of  coal,  think  that  street  occupations  of 
various  kind  are  all  right.  We  are  frequently  re- 
minded of  some  eminent  business  man  who  started 
his  life  as  a  newsboy  or  bootblack.  The  physical 
dangers  of  street  occupations  are  not  nearly  so 
great  as  those  of  the  mine  or  the  factory,  but  the 
moral  dangers  are  very  much  more  alarming.  In 
cities  where  one-fourth  of  the  children  engaged 


SECONDARY   DEMANDS   OF   LABOUR    95 

in  labour  are  in  street  occupations,  two-thirds 
of  those  children  M'ho  are  sent  to  the  reform  school 
come  from  these  ranks;  or,  in  other  words,  nearly 
three  times  as  many  children  are  sent  to  the  re- 
form schools  from  the  street  service  as  are  sent 
from  the  factory  service.  The  bright-eyed  boy  of 
ten  has  learned  on  the  street  corner  practically  all 
the  wickedness  that  there  is  to  know.  Boys  in  the 
messenger  service  are  sent  to  all  sorts  of  places  of 
infamy,  and  it  is  evident  that  the  street  boys  need 
protection  more  than  any  other  class. 

The  final  argument  in  behalf  of  child  labour  is 
always  the  poor  mother  or  sick  father  whom  the 
child  may  support  if  permitted  to  work.  No  one 
believes  in  the  self-support  of  the  poor  more  than 
I  do,  and  no  agency  more  than  the  associated 
charities  has  emphasised  that  need,  but  look  at  the 
question  just  as  it  is.  If  the  family  were  hungry 
the  community  would  be  tremendously  shocked 
and  outraged  to  hear  that  they  had  killed  one  of 
the  tender  children  to  supply  food  for  the  rest. 
It  is  even  more  shocking,  though  we  do  not  feel 
it  so,  when  the  child  is  consumed,  soul  and  body, 
in  doing  work  from  which  he  should  have  been 
saved  because  it  prevents  his  development  and 
ruins  his  future.     One  child  in  a  hundred  may 


96       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

come  through  all  these  difficulties  because  he  has 
an  exceptional  constitution,  or  by  happy  circum- 
stances develops  an  exceptional  character,  but  the 
success  of  these  rare  cases  only  emphasises  the 
common  disasters  which  fall  upon  the  rest.  It 
is  a  shame  for  society  to  shift  the  burden  of  char- 
ity which  it  ought  to  bear  in  the  case  of  the  poor 
widow  with  a  family  of  children  under  sixteen 
years  of  age,  to  the  breaking  backs  of  those  poor 
children  to  the  ruin  of  their  lives. 

We  have  gone  far  enough  on  the  road  to  wealth 
and  power  to  linger  a  little  by  the  way  and  take 
time  for  a  more  careful  study  of  the  whole  sit- 
uation. These  workingmen  may  be  often  mistaken; 
they  may  be  often  wrong-headed,  but  they  are  still 
fellowmen,  and  they  are  hungering  for  the  human 
touch.  Any  business  that  will  cultivate  the  hu- 
man relation,  that  will  feel  and  exhibit  real  sym- 
pathy with  the  men  who  are  employed,  and  that 
assumes  a  fair  share  of  responsibility  for  the  suc- 
cess or  failure  of  their  whole  scheme  of  life,  will 
go  far  toward  securing  a  loyalty  which  is  so  much 
desired  and  which  is  not  easily  found.  The  la- 
bour giant  is  awakened.  He  has  thrown  off  the 
shackles  of  the  past,  and  doubtless  he  has  with 
the  shackles  oftentimes  broken  lawful  restraints. 


SECONDARY   DEMANDS   OF  LABOUE    97 

It  is  useless  to  seek  to  find  by  craft  or  convention 
new  shackles.  The  giant  can  never  be  bound 
again.  A  working  basis  must  be  sought  and  dis- 
covered on  the  terms  of  equity  to  all  parties.  The 
employer  wishes  his  workingmen  to  be  sober,  in- 
dustrious, and  faithful,  but  these  qualities  involve 
self-control,  and  that  is  only  the  result  of  high 
character.  If  employers  want  to  see  signs  of  soul 
in  the  workingmen,  it  is  not  enough  for  them  to 
put  their  strength  and  their  shrewdness  into  busi- 
ness; they  must  put  their  heart  into  business  as 
well,  nor  must  the  employers  be  too  anxious  for 
the  success  of  their  business;  they  must  be  even 
more  anxious  for  the  success  of  society  and  the  de- 
velopment of  a  sane  and  well-ordered  community, 
and  it  will  be  found  that  not  even  justice  is 
enough;  there  must  also  be  the  spirit  of  fraternity. 
It  was  once  thought  that  a  political  democracy 
would  solve  the  evils  of  the  world.  For  one  hun- 
dred years  the  American  people  laboured  under 
that  delusion.  It  is  now  seen  that  a  political 
democracy  that  is  not  based  upon  justice  and  good- 
faith  may  easily  become  another  form  of  despot- 
ism. We  have  done  well  in  securing  the  struc- 
ture of  a  government  with  political  institutions 
adapted  to  our  common  life,  but  this  is  not  enough. 


98       THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

Corporation  lawyers  boast  that  there  can  be  no 
laws  made  in  the  interests  of  the  public  which  the 
shrewd  counsellor  cannot  circumvent  by  ingenuity 
of  new  organisation  and  fresh  applications  of 
power  guided  by  craft.  The  industrial  democracy 
must  supplement  the  political  democracy.  It  can- 
not be  wholly  done  by  written  laws.  Men  in  high 
places  must  feel  a  high  sense  of  responsibility. 
The  obligation  of  strength  and  of  wisdom,  the 
obligation  of  wealth  and  of  power,  is  measured 
alone  by  their  extent,  nor  must  it  be  forgotten  by 
the  great  employers  of  labour,  many  of  whom 
boast  that  they  themselves  have  come  up  from  the 
ranks,  that  conditions  are  very  different  to-day 
from  what  they  were  forty  years  ago.  This  is  not 
the  time  nor  the  place  to  discuss  the  constituents 
of  great  wealth,  but  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  the 
natural  resources  in  field  and  mine  and  forest  have 
largely  been  taken  possession  of  by  the  few,  with- 
out money  and  without  price.  Other  men  have 
grown  great  through  franchises  and  privileges 
which  have  given  them  borrowing  power  really 
belonging  not  to  them,  but  to  the  whole  people. 
The  capital  that  was  adequate  for  an  independent 
enterprise  some  years  ago  is  wholly  inadequate  to- 
day.   Ordinary  thrift  has  no  such  opportunity  aa 


SECONDARY  DEMANDS   OF   LABOUR    99 

it  once  had.  The  times  have  changed.  Because  of 
this  some  urge  the  claims  of  socialism.  I  am  not 
of  that  number.  Socialism  promises  the  glory  of 
mediocrity,  the  weakening  of  great  effort,  and  the 
arrest  of  human  progress.  It  may  be  tried  as  an 
experiment,  but  upon  the  ruins  of  that  experiment 
a  new  individualistic  order  will  no  doubt  arise.  It 
would  be  wise  to  avoid  this  experiment,  but  it  can 
only  be  avoided  by  such  economical  and  social  con- 
ditions as  shall  guarantee  fair  play  to  the  average 
man,  and  such  a  measure  of  the  joy  of  life  as  shall 
make  him  interested  in  social  institutions.  No 
condition  of  social  order  can  ever  be  stable  unless 
it  is  recognised  by  the  large  majority  of  the  people 
as  the  safeguard  of  their  interests.  If  men  are  to 
love  the  flag,  it  must  float  before  their  eyes  as  the 
symbol  of  liberty  and  justice;  if  they  are  to  be 
loyal  to  the  government,  it  must  be  because  it 
affords  them  adequate  protection.  The  times  are 
full  of  solemn  warning.  The  virtues  of  truthful- 
ness and  honesty  have  gone  beyond  ethics;  they 
are  the  part  of  common  prudence.  This  is  no  time 
for  Nero  to  prepare  to  play  his  fiddle;  the  music 
will  die  in  the  discordant  wrath  of  an  aroused 
people. 


LETTEES  FEOM  EMPLOYEES 

Preliminary    Statement — Importance   of   the 
Writers — Business  Interests  Uppermost. 

All  the  letters  from  the  employers  of  labour  are 
presented  without  signature.  The  writers,  how- 
ever, are  quite  as  representative  of  their  class  as 
are  the  vtriters  of  the  labour  letters.  Three  of 
them  are  at  the  head  of  very  large  railway  sys- 
tems, five  of  them  represent  the  largest  manufac- 
turing concerns  of  their  kind  in  the  country,  and 
the  rest  of  them  represent  very  important  interests. 
On  looking  into  the  matter  when  the  letters  were 
received,  I  discovered  that  decidedly  the  majority 
of  these  writers  came  up  from  the  ranks  of  labour 
themselves,  and  some  of  them  from  the  lowest 
ranks.  The  men  who  represent  this  class  have,  on 
the  whole,  written  letters  with  the  least  colour  of 
sympathy  with  workingmen.  The  problem  seems 
to  lie  in  their  minds  thus :  "  If  I  have  fought  my 
way  up,  other  men  can  do  the  same  if  they  are 
willing  to  pay  the  price."  These  writers,  equally 
with  the  labour  leaders,  have  given  us  their  upper- 

100 


LETTERS    FROM   EMPLOYERS     101 

most  thoughts,  and  by  that  token  for  our  purposes 
they  have  given  us  their  most  valuable  thoughts. 
One  chief  thing  to  be  noted  is  that  the  business 
interests  are  practically  the  only  interests  which 
the  employers  recognise.  There  is  no  evidence  at 
all  that  the  social  question,  as  a  broad  problem  of 
how  the  human  family  can  live  together  upon  the 
best  terms  and  for  the  best  purposes,  has  been  con- 
sidered at  all.  There  is  not  a  word  upon  the 
subject  of  better  education;  there  is  scarcely  an 
ethical  note  in  the  letters,  if  we  except  the  objec- 
tion to  tlie  use  of  brute  force,  and  even  that  note  is 
not  strictly  ethical.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is 
in  several  of  the  letters  a  definite  note  of  open- 
mindedness,  as  though  the  writers  had  a  conviction 
that  the  last  word  has  not  been  spoken  upon  the 
relation  of  employer  and  employed.  It  is  obvious 
that  it  is  more  to  the  interest  of  the  employer  even 
than  of  the  employed  that  the  statements  should 
be  unsigned,  but  the  reader  may  be  sure  that  these 
writers  are  so  representative  that  we  have  a  picture 
of  the  composite  mind  of  the  present-day  employer. 

THE   LETTERS 
"  If  we  could  pick  the  kind  of  work  people  we 
would  like,  they  would  be  in  no  respect  different 


102     THE    INDUSTRIAL    COXFLICT 

from  those  we  have.  It  takes  all  kinds  of  people 
to  make  a  world,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  employer, 
by  proper  selection  and  organisation,  to  utilise  to 
the  best  advantage  the  capacities  and  dispositions 
of  the  people  seeking  emplo}Tnent  from  him.  It 
is  his  duty  to  pay  wages  varying  according  to  the 
productive  ability  of  the  individual,  but  sufficient 
to  afford  the  means  of  subsistence  to  the  least 
capable.  It  is  his  duty  not  only  to  deal  fairly  and 
justly  with  his  emplo5'ees,  but  to  promote  their  in- 
terests to  the  best  of  his  ability  consistent  with  the 
conditions  governing  the  business.  When  the  em- 
ployer thus  endeavours  to  handle  his  men,  there 
is  nothing  the  matter  with  them,  and  he  will  find 
that  they  respond  with  intelligence,  loyalty,  and 
increased  productive  capacity." 

"  I  cannot  address  myself  as  fully  to  the  subject 
as  I  would  like,  for  it  is  one  of  very  great  impor- 
tance, and  one  that  has  its  rights  and  its  wrongs. 
However,  from  many  years  of  experience  in  em- 
ploying labour,  I  have  had  some  interesting  ex- 
periences which  have  left  indelible  impressions 
upon  my  mind. 

"  The  relations  between  capital  and  labour,  or, 
more   correctly,   between   the   employer   and   the 


LETTERS    FROM    EMPLOYERS      103 

employed,  are  not  what  they  should  be.  Each  ia 
absolutely  dependent  upon  the  other,  and  their 
relations  should  be  amicable,  and  if  possible  har- 
monious. That  combinations  of  capital  exist,  and 
that  such  combinations  oftentimes  are  oppressive 
to  labour,  cannot  be  denied;  therefore,  any  fair- 
minded  person  with  a  proper  sense  of  justice  will 
not  contend  that  it  is  not  reasonable  for  labour  to 
combine  for  self-protection,  and  for  its  general 
good.  It  is  this  spirit  that  has  resulted  in  a  mul- 
tiplicity of  labour  unions  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land,  and  yet  it  must  be  de- 
nied that  such  unions  have,  as  a  whole,  resulted 
in  elevating  the  cause  of  labour.  That  the  unions 
have  secured  valuable  concessions,  oftentimes  just 
concessions,  cannot  be  denied,  and  if  these  unions 
were  conducted  properly  and  lawfully,  there  would 
be  little  to  criticise  in  them,  but,  unfortunately, 
the  great  majority  of  them  teach  socialism  and 
anarchism.  This  is  largely  due  to  the  false  teach- 
ings of  their  leaders,  who  foment  discontent,  and 
who  precipitate  unjust  and  unreasonable  strikes, 
based  on  fancied  grievances,  oftentimes  without 
the  faintest  cause,  and  to  carry  their  strikes  to 
victorious  conclusions,  commit  unlawful  acts  of 
riot,  bloodshed,  and  murder. 


104     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

"The  labour  leaders  must  inaugurate  labour 
wars  to  demonstrate  their  personal  necessity  to 
the  organisations  that  support  them.  Without 
contentions  between  the  employers  and  their  la- 
bourers there  would  be  no  need  of  their  services. 

"  If  all  of  the  labour  unions  were  conducted  on 
the  high  moral  and  business  methods  of  the 
Brotherhood  of  Eailway  Engineers,  there  would 
be  nothing  to  criticise.  There  is  no  class  of  labour 
so  exalted  or  so  free  from  contentions  with  its 
employers  or  so  steadily  employed  as  the  railway 
engineers  of  the  United  States,  and  this  is  ac- 
counted for  on  the  sound  principle  that  while 
thoroughly  organised  for  self-protection,  it  is  gov- 
erned wisely  and  actuated  by  a  due  sense  of  right. 
When  the  Locomotive  Engineers  make  a  demand, 
it  has  a  basis  of  justice,  and  it  instantly  commands 
the  respect  of  not  only  the  employers,  but  of  the 
country  at  large,  and  it  usually  succeeds  because  it 
should  succeed. 

"  This  country  is  engaged,  under  the  leadership 
of  the  peerless  Roosevelt,  in  a  crusade  against 
trusts  and  unlawful  combinations  to  restrict  trade, 
and  this  is  usually  construed  to  mean  certain  great 
corporations  that  have  crushed  out  competition, 
and  have  become  absolute  monopolists,  and  are, 


LETTEES    FEOM   EMPLOYEES     105 

in  a  general  way,  robbing  the  people.  "Well,  God 
speed  the  day  when  all  such  unlawful  combina- 
tions shall  be  brought  to  a  strict  accounting,  but 
let  us  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  greatest 
evil  of  the  day,  and  the  greatest  combinations  in 
restriction  of  trade  and  commerce,  in  a  word,  the 
greatest  of  the  great  trusts  of  the  country,  is  the 
labour  trust  as  fostered  by  the  labour  unions. 

"  The  unions,  with  few  exceptions,  have  not  ex- 
alted labour.  They  have  secured  concessions,  some 
of  which  were  right,  and  some  wrong,  but  there 
has  been  a  lack  of  justice  as  the  basis  of  their 
action,  and  much  brutality  in  the  enforcement. 

"  '  What  I  want '  is  that  the  unions  shall  reor- 
ganise on  the  general  plan  of  the  Brotherhood  of 
Locomotive  Engineers ;  that  they  shall  enforce  their 
just  demands  in  a  peaceful  and  law-abiding  way; 
that  if  necessary  to  secure  rights  denied  them,  they 
be  accorded  the  right  to  quit  work  in  a  body,  but 
that  they  shall  cease  their  habit  of  attacking  others 
who  are  willing  to  accept  the  work  which  they  have 
abandoned,  and  that  they  shall  also  cease  their 
wanton  destruction  of  the  property  of  their  em- 
ployers who  will  not  concede  their  demands.  The 
labouring  people,  notably  members  of  unions,  have 
cultivated  the  idea  that  because  their  labour  has, 


106      THE    INDUSTEIAL    COXFLICT 

in  a  measure,  helped  to  build  up  certain  great  en- 
terprises, they  have  acquired  by  right  an  absolute 
property  interest  in  such  concerns.  This  theory  is 
the  rankest  of  socialism,  bordering  on  anarchism. 
They  have  no  such  property  interest,  and  such  wild 
theories  are  the  vagaries  of  'a,  mind  diseased.' 
They  are  entitled  to  much  consideration  as  old  and 
worthy  employees,  and  any  other  consideration 
which  the  employer  may  concede  willingly,  Ibut 
nothing  more. 

"  One  of  the  greatest  of  existing  evils,  the  result 
of  unionism  and  its  arbitrary  teachings,  is  that 
men  employed  by  the  day  or  by  the  hour  refuse  to 
do  any  act  which  may  be  demanded  by  the  em- 
ployer if  it  is  not  strictly  of  the  nature  of  the 
work  for  which  he  claims  to  be  employed.  If  a 
sheet-iron  worker  is  employed,  his  labours  must  be 
confined  to  that,  no  matter  whether  his  master's 
interests  require  that  he  temporarily  help  at  some- 
thing else  or  not, 

"  Under  the  union  system  a  scale  of  wages  is 
adopted,  generally  based  upon  competency,  but  in- 
competent men,  knowing  just  enough  of  the  work 
to  pass  muster,  are  set  to  work  under  it  at  full 
pay,  and  unless  guilty  of  some  misdemeanour,  the 
employer  cannot  dismiss  them  without  bringing  on 


LETTERS    FROM    EMPLOYERS      107 

a  general  strike.  The  whole  union  force  is  invoked 
to  compel  the  employer  to  keep  undesirable  and 
incompetent  men.  This  is  absolutely  dishonest.  I 
want  the  system  corrected. 

"  In  closing  I  may  reiterate  that  what  is  wanted 
by  the  employer  is  liberty  to  employ  his  labour  in 
the  labour  market  without  interference.  Also  the 
further  right  to  discharge  any  man  for  incompe- 
tency, intemperance,  or  lack  of  fidelity  to  duty,  and 
the  further  right  to  employ  union  and  non-union 
labour  at  will,  and  without  prejudice  to  his  busi- 
ness, and  last,  but  not  least,  by  any  means,  that 
labour  unions  shall  cease  their  unlawful  acts  in 
the  destruction  of  property  and  injury  to  persons 
who  seek  their  positions  after  they  have  relin- 
quished them." 

"What  enlightened  employers  want  to-day  is 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  '  the  square  deal.'  This 
involves  protection  in  their  constitutional  rights 
to  employ  any  person  who  is  willing  to  work  for 
them  on  such  terms  and  conditions  and  for  such 
periods  of  time  as  may  be  mutually  agreeable,  with- 
out interference  from  third  parties.  It  is  opposed 
to  the  labour  union  claims  of  special  privileges 
before  the  law,  including  the  closed  shop,  the  boy- 


108     THE   INDUSTEIAL   CONFLICT 

cott,  and  the  right  (through  immunity  from  legal 
processes  applicable  to  all  other  classes  of  society), 
to  coerce  physically  or  otherwise  non-union  work- 
men and  employers  of  non-union  workmen. 

"  The  better  class  of  employers  also  wish  the 
unrestricted  opportunity  to  bind  their  workmen  to 
their  own  establishment  by  ties  of  mutual  interests, 
through  fair  and  liberal  treatment,  and  by  extend- 
ing, the  old-fashioned  inducements  for  skilful, 
industrious,  and  faithful  service.  All  this  is  dis- 
tasteful to  the  union  leaders.  They  are  opposed 
to  individual  concessions  made  by  employers,  and 
would  like  to  have  workingmen  dependent  on  union 
methods  for  all  their  advancement.  They  are 
most  hostile  to  the  natural  condition  of  reciprocity 
between  the  liberal  employer  and  the  fair-minded 
employee.  They  much  prefer  the  tyrannical,  ex- 
acting employer,  as  tending  to  force  the  workmen 
into  the  union.  A  State  factory  inspector  in  one 
of  the  Eastern  States  told  me  several  years  ago 
that  he  had  been  surprised  to  find  that  the  large 
majority  of  employers  were  not  only  willing  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  labour  laws,  but  were 
anxious  to  do  what  they  could  for  the  welfare  of 
their  employees.  All  of  this  so-called  '  betterment ' 
work  is  obnoxious  to  the  labour  union. 


LETTERS    FROM    EMPLOYERS      109 

"  Labour  unions  in  the  past  have  rendered  in- 
calculable service  in  giving  workmen  for  the  first 
time  a  voice  in  the  industrial  world.  They  are 
now  doing  incalculable  harm  to  society  in  conse- 
quence of  the  new  ideas  and  ambitions  which  have 
been  imported  from  Europe  and  developed  of  late 
years.  Many  of  the  unions  to-day  are  managed 
and  exploited  by  unscrupulous  grafters,  working 
for  their  own  selfish,  personal  ends.  Their  meth- 
ods, too,  often  show  total  disregard  of  the  rights  of 
others  and  of  the  decencies  of  life.  The  current 
newspapers  are  full  of  examples  of  this,  and  nearly 
everybody  can  supply  illustrations  from  his  own 
personal  experience.  The  many  outrages  com- 
mitted on  non-union  men,  including  the  most 
brutal  murders,  are  seldom  denounced,  or  even 
deplored  in  union  circles.  Even  the  universal 
calamity  in  San  Francisco  has  been  to  the  unions 
merely  an  opportunity  to  tighten  their  hold  on  the 
body  politic  and  squeeze  the  last  drop  of  blood 
from  the  public.  San  Francisco  and  Butte,  Mon- 
tana, are  the  two  cities  of  the  United  States  where 
the  labour  unions  have  had  an  opportunity  to 
demonstrate  the  conditions  which  the  union  leaders 
would  like  to  establish  throughout  the  country. 

"  The  figure  of  speech  which  represents  the  rela- 


110     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

tion  between  labour  and  capital  as  one  of  warfare, 
with  all  that  is  involved  in  that  terrible  word,  has 
done  more  than  anything  else  to  poison  the  thought 
and  embitter  the  feeling  of  the  American  people  on 
this  subject,  yet  that  simile  is  almost  universally 
used  in  the  labour  union  publications.  The  desire 
and  purpose  of  the  unions  is  toward  the  reduction 
of  all  labour  to  the  level  of  the  least  competent  and 
least  fit,  and  the  entire  elimination  of  the  time- 
honoured  motives  of  skill,  industry,  and  thrift, 
through  which  our  civilisation  has  been  built  up. 
"  To  bring  the  unions  back  to  their  proper  rela- 
tion to  society  they  should  be  made  amenable  to 
the  laws  and  responsible  for  their  actions.  Their 
development  should  be  along  the  lines  indicated 
by  Prof.  Lawrence  Laughlin  in  his  article  pub- 
lished last  year  in  Scribner's  Magazine.  Member- 
ship in  a  union  should  be  a  guaranty  of  good 
workmanship  with  no  restriction  of  output.  When 
these  reforms  are  accomplished,  the  unions  will 
still,  on  the  American  basis  of  the  open  shop,  serve 
their  great  purpose  of  protecting  the  workmen  from 
the  exactions  of  unscrupulous  employers.  At  the 
same  time,  it  will  be  possible  for  them  to  co-op- 
erate with  the  great  mass  of  well-meaning  em- 
ployers who  desire  to  improve  the  conditions  of 


LETTERS    FROM    EMPLOYERS      111 

labour  in  every  practicable  way.  In  general,  I 
believe  that  the  benefits  of  invention,  of  concen- 
tration, of  improved  methods  of  manufacture  and 
distribution, — all  the  blessings  of  prosperity,  will 
be  largely  diffused  through  the  gradual  shortening 
of  the  hours  of  labour,  and  the  gradual  cheapening 
of  the  products  to  the  consumer." 

"  Workingmen,  as  a  whole,  in  the  United  States, 
are  the  most  intelligent  men  in  the  world,  and  the 
best  used  and  best  paid,  and  live  better  than  any 
other  labouring  people  in  the  world. 

"  Speaking  of  them  as  organised  labour  only : 
What  they  need  where  they  are  organised  is  to  be 
handled  by  wise,  conservative,  and  honest  men;  if 
they  fill  their  offices  with  such  men,  they  will  have 
very  little  trouble,  but,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  they 
do  not,  and  are  too  often  governed  by  irresponsible 
men — men  who  have  nothing  at  stake  further  than 
to  draw  on  the  treasury  of  the  different  labour 
organisations.  Organised  labour  has  done  much 
to  bring  better  conditions  to  the  labouring  man, 
which,  in  my  opinion,  would  never  have  been 
brought  about  had  it  not  been  for  the  labour  or- 
ganisations, and  the  way  they  have  been  handled; 
they  are  entitled  to  a  great  deal  of  credit,  but  some 


112     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

of  them  are  very  badly  handled,  and  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  improvement  which  will  come  about 
in  time. 

" '  What  do  the  Employers  Want?  '  They  want 
nothing  but  an  honest  day's  work  and  fair  treat- 
ment from  the  workingmen.  When  they  make 
contracts,  they  want  the  workingman  to  carry  out 
his  contract,  which  some  organisations  do  not  do. 
The  employer  has  paid,  and  is  paying  to-day,  a 
greater  advance  in  the  wages  than  has  ever  been 
known  in  the  lives  of  the  workingmen,  consequently 
the  workingman  is  better  off  to-day  than  ever  be- 
fore, and  was  never  as  uneasy  as  he  is  to-day. 

"  The  floating  population  of  labouring  men,  of 
which  this  country  has  a  great  many,  requires  only 
a  small  amount  to  live  on;  for  instance,  they  take 
$30  per  month  to  pay  their  expenses.  When  they 
are  getting  a  dollar  per  day  they  wiU  work  full 
time ;  as  it  is  to-day,  they  are  receiving  $2  per  day, 
consequently  they  will  work  only  one-half  the 
time;  they  loaf  the  balance,  and  disarrange  all 
kinds  of  business  and  spend  their  time  in  dissipa- 
tion. It  is  a  pleasure  for  the  employer  to  treat  all 
his  employees  fairly,  and  see  them  prosper,  if  they 
will  only  give  an  honest  day's  work  in  return  and 
not  spend  their  time  in  idleness  and  dissipation." 


LETTERS    FROM    EMPLOYERS      113 

"  Replying  to  your  favour  of  the  28th  ult.,  I 
have  to  say  that  in  a  general  way  we  have  no  fault 
to  find  with  the  labour  conditions  as  existing  in 
our  works.  We  concede  to  our  men  the  right  to 
have  the  privilege  of  selling  their  products  at  the 
highest  possible  price.  Our  sole  exception  to  the 
union  rules  as  applied  to  our  business  arises  from 
the  fact  that  the  men  do  not  confine  their  efforts 
to  betterment  of  hours,  wages,  and  working  con- 
ditions, but  attempt  to  control  other  matters  which 
are  really  no  concern  of  theirs. 

"  We  ask  for  loyalty  and  interest  in  our  concern, 
industry  and  sobriety,  and  as  we  are  generally 
satisfied  with  the  way  these  things  are  rendered  us, 
we  are  not  in  a  position  to  pass  any  severe  criti- 
cism on  existing  conditions." 

"  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  to  you  that  I 
think  it  is  just  as  fair  for  the  labouring  men  to 
organise  and  have  their  union  as  it  is  for  the 
capitalists,  and  a  great  many  prominent  employers 
of  labour  think  in  a  great  many  respects  it  is  easier 
to  get  along  with  the  men,  dealing  with  a  com- 
mittee of  three  or  five,  than  dealing  with  each  man 
individually.  In  that  way  they  fix  up  a  scale  of 
wages  for  which  the  men  are  to  work  for  a  period 


114     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

of  one  to  three  years,  and  have  very  little  trouble. 
I  believe  the  unions,  on  the  whole,  have  been  a 
great  benefit  to  the  labouring  men.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  hurt  themselves  very  materially  when 
they  violate  their  contract  and  go  on  sympathetic 
strikes  because  some  other  union  is  in  trouble.  If 
they  do  not  keep  their  agreement,  they  have  no 
right  to  complain  because  their  employers  do  not 
keep  theirs. 

"  There  are  certain  underlying  rules  and  prin- 
ciples which  they  must  live  up  to  if  they  want 
the  sympathy  and  respect  of  right-thinking  men. 
When  they  make  an  agreement,  they  must  stand 
by  it  until  it  has  expired,  and  when  they  go  on  a 
strike,  it  should  be  a  decent,  orderly,  respectable 
and  peaceful  strike.  This  country  will  not  tolerate 
violence  on  the  part  of  the  men — they  must  obey 
the  law  and  respect  the  rights  of  others,  and  their 
property,  or  they  will  never  succeed.  This  pound- 
ing a  man  because  he  does  not  join  the  union,  in- 
sulting his  family,  smashing  in  windows,  and 
actions  of  that  kind,  only  hurt  the  labouring  men's 
union,  and  if  persisted  in,  are  going  to  be  very 
disastrous  to  their  best  interests,  and  cause  the 
loss  of  a  great  many  lives. 

"  Another  mistake  that  I  think  the  labour  unions 


LETTERS    FROM    EMPLOYERS      115 

make  is  in  allowing  themselves  to  be  manipulated 
for  political  purposes.  I  think  they  will  be  much 
stronger  and  carry  much  more  weight  if  they  do 
not  affiliate  themselves  with  any  political  party, 
nor  approve  of  any  particular  ticket,  nor  get  up 
any  particular  party  for  themselves.  They  can 
then  endorse  some  particular  candidate,  and  by 
throwing  their  votes  for  him,  accomplish  much 
more." 

"  My  experience  with  labour  troubles  is  that  the 
great  majority  of  the  men  who  organise  and  belong 
to  the  unions  have  very  little  to  say  as  to  what 
they  want  to  do.  I  am  certain  men  who  belong 
to  labour  unions  attend  meetings  to  a  very  small 
extent.  A  few  restless  spirits  attend  the  meetings 
and  legislate  for  the  others,  and  the  average  man, 
through  negligence,  indifference,  or  timidity,  fails 
to  express  his  opinion.  The  result  is  that  the  ma- 
jority's opinion  is  not  expressed  when  a  demand 
is  made  and  strikes  occur.  It  is  very  seldom, 
indeed,  that  the  majority  of  organised  labourers 
desire  to  strike.  I  have  had  scores  of  men  tell  me 
in  times  of  strikes  that  it  was  never  their  intention 
that  there  should  bo  one,  and  many  of  them  ex- 
pressed themselves  as  not  desiring  to  belong  to  the 


116     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

union,  but  they  feel  compelled  to  do  so  on  account 
of  the  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  them  by 
others.  I  think  the  labour  organisations  could  do 
very  much  to  improve  the  conditions  if  greater 
numbers  would  attend  their  meetings,  and  be  al- 
lowed to  fairly  express  their  wishes.  The  greatest 
complaint  I  have  is  that  a  large  majority  allow 
themselves  to  be  led  into  foolish  difficulties.  The 
above  is  one  answer  to  your  question,  '  What  do 
the  employers  want?' 

"Another  thing  employers  want  is  to  be  abso- 
lutely left  without  hindrance  to  carry  on  their 
manufacturing  plants  to  the  best  of  their  ability. 
They  cannot  allow  organised  labour  to  say  how 
things  shall  be  done,  or  who  shall  do  them,  or 
how  much  shall  be  done  in  a  day.  An  employer 
must  be  allowed  freedom  to  hire  whomsoever  he 
sees  fit,  and  there  seems  no  reason  why  any  man 
should  not  be  allowed  to  work  for  another  man  if 
both  parties  agree.  I  often  wish  that  the  original 
conditions  between  the  employer  and  employee 
could  be  absolutely  re-established,  and  I  think  that 
eventually  they  will.  From  my  early  recollections 
of  business  (covering  a  period  of  thirty  or  forty 
years),  absolute  freedom  existed  between  employer 
and  employee,  and  it  was  always  a  matter  of  mutual 
agreement  between  the  two  on  what  basis  they 


LETTERS    FEOM    EMPLOYERS      117 

should  do  business.  I  regret  that  in  late  years  a 
third  party  has  undertaken  to  step  in  and  en- 
deavour to  dictate  the  terms  between  employer  and 
employee. 

"  Another  thing  employers  want  is  a  proper  in- 
terpretation of  our  statute  laws.  In  this  State 
the  law  distinctly  forbids  men  to  prevent  other 
men  from  working  at  a  factory  if  they  desire  to  do 
so,  and  even  goes  so  far  as  to  forbid  them  to 
threaten,  coerce,  or  intimidate  in  any  manner  in 
order  to  accomplish  their  purposes.  Yet  in  every 
strike  that  occurs  there  is  intimidation  and  vio- 
lence. Our  Supreme  Court  has  rendered  decisions 
that  practically  annul  the  law,  and  there  is  no 
possible  way  for  an  employer  to  be  relieved  from 
a  crowd  of  striking  employees  forming  at  his  gate 
or  shop  door,  abusing,  threatening,  and  intimidat- 
ing in  every  manner  men  who  wish  to  work.  A 
lot  of  men  can  threaten  and  intimidate  others  from 
working  in  my  shop,  but  if  I  try  to  prevent  a  man 
from  getting  employment  in  another  shop,  I  am 
guilty  of  blacklisting,  and  am  liable  for  it.  Our 
judges  are  elected  by  the  people,  and  my  experience 
is  that  they  are  incapable  of  properly  executing 
the  laws  we  have,  fearing  they  will  lose  the  labour 
vote  at  the  next  election. 

"  Within  the  last  two  months  I  have  repeatedly 


118      THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

had  men  arrested  for  committing  violence,  and 
have  proven  the  cases  to  the  satisfaction  of  a  jury, 
but  the  judge  on  the  bench,  with  the  proof  of  un- 
provoked slugging  in  front  of  him,  allowed  the 
culprit  to  escape  with  a  fine  of  $25.  A  term  of 
imprisonment  would  be  the  proper  punishment  for 
such  a  crime. 

"  The  items  that  I  want  as  an  employer  are  as 
follows : 

"1.  If  men  desire  to  unionise,  let  them  carry 
out  their  own  wishes,  and  not  be  led  by  a  few. 

"  3.  Freedom  of  the  employer  to  conduct  his 
business  to  the  best  of  his  ability. 

"  3.  A  proper  execution  of  our  laws  by  our 
judges,  without  fear  of  the  labour  vote." 

"  I  think  one  of  the  most  serious  things  con- 
fronting our  country  to-day  is  the  growing  ten- 
dency among  all  classes  of  labour  to  shift  from 
place  to  place,  and  to  do  as  little  work  as  possible, 
instead  of  trying  to  do  as  much  as  they  can  to 
advance  the  interests  of  whatever  may  be  the  wage- 
paying  power. 

"  I  do  not  believe  it  is  much  of  an  exaggeration 
to  say  that  to-day  the  so-called  labourer  does  not 
accomplish  in  a  working  day  nearly  as  much  as 


LETTERS    FROM    EMPLOYERS      119 

he  did  ten  years  ago.  With  the  enormous  amount 
of  work  confronting  American  labour,  the  constant 
cry  for  less  hours  and  higher  pay  is  one  of  the 
things  that  is  going  to  check  our  advance  and 
progress. 

"  Ten  hours  is  not  too  much  for  a  healthy  man 
to  work,  and  he  ought  to  work  hard  and  loyally 
for  those  who  provide  the  money  to  carry  on  the 
business  during  those  ten  hours.  The  fact  that 
the  apparent  spirit  of  many  workingmen  is  against 
this  idea  is  most  unfortunate." 

"  As  employers  of  labour,  all  we  ask  is  the 
privilege  of  employing  whomever  wo  wish,  and  at 
such  rates  of  wages  as  are  reasonable  and  just, 
according  to  conditions.  We  have  been  impor- 
tuned to  sign  agreements  whereunder  we  would 
agree  to  employ  none  but  union  men.  We  have 
never  been  ready  to  enter  into  arrangements  of  this 
character  against  the  vast  number  of  honest  work- 
ingmen who  do  not  belong  to  unions,  who  are 
largely  in  the  majority,  and  liave  been  boycotted, 
intimidated,  dynamited,  and  burned  out  for  fail- 
ing to  do  so," 

"  It  is  many  years  since  I  was  a  workingman, 


120     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONTLICT 

and  conditions  have  changed  very  much,  but  when 
I  was  a  workingman  I  worked  for  the  best  interests 
of  my  employers,  and  did  not  spare  my  time  nor 
labour  to  further  their  interests,  and  soon  became 
an  employer.  Since  that  time  conditions  are 
changed,  and  yet  I  believe  that  industry,  honesty 
of  purpose,  and  doing  all  and  more  than  you  are 
asked  to  do  will  have  its  reward. 

"Your  second  question  is  answered  by  me 
through  my  own  experience,  and  may  seem  ego- 
tistical, but  what  the  employer  wants  is  men  who 
will  do  their  best,  without  considering  remunera- 
tion until  their  capacity  and  ability  have  been  fully 
proven.  A  man  who  only  does  as  much  as  is  nec- 
essary to  prevent  his  discharge,  is  of  no  real  value. 
One  who  is  not  willing  to  earn  more  than  he  gets 
will  never  succeed  beyond  the  ordinary,  but  it  is 
well  known  to  all  that  first-class  help  is  ha'-d  to 
get,  and  that  such  help  does  get  recognition  by 
employers.  What  an  employer  wants  is  results, 
and  if  results  are  given,  then  wages  are  increased 
accordingly.  Many  years  of  experience  teach  me 
that  faithful  performance  of  duty  brings  a  reward 
in  money,  and  also  an  ease  of  conscience  that  is 
worth  much  more  than  money." 

"  In  compliance  with  your  request  to  specify 


LETTERS  FR0:M  EMPLOYERS   121 

individual  cases  where  I  thought  organised  labour 
had  overstepped  what  might  properly  be  termed 
its  just  right,  the  following  may  be  of  interest: 

"  Several  years  ago  the  question  of  a  new  scale 
arose  with  a  daily  newspaper.  The  question  of 
hours  and  wages  was  satisfactorily  adjusted  with- 
out any  considerable  degree  of  friction.  When  it 
came  to  the  matter  of  conditions  under  which  la- 
bour should  be  performed,  the  clause  read :  '  And 
all  proper  conveniences  for  health  and  comfort 
shall  be  provided  which  shall  be  construed  to  mean 
the  furnishing  of  heat  in  winter,  ice-water  in  sum- 
mer, towels  and  soap.  In  addition,  cuspidors  shall 
be  furnished  by  the  office  for  the  use  of  tobacco- 
chewers,  and  they  shall  be  cleaned  at  the  expense 
of  the  office.' 

"  All  except  the  latter  clause  was  agreed  to,  and 
that  I  declined  to  consider,  stating  that  we  were 
willing  to  pay  a  premium  on  cleanliness,  but  not 
on  filth.  It  was  only  after  three  weeks  of  fruitless 
discussion  when  it  was  announced  that  the  union 
would  never  secure  that  clause,  even  if  it  brought 
an  open  office  by  refusal,  that  it  was  stricken  out. 

"  That  is  one  of  the  most  arbitrary  and  unjusti- 
fiable stands  I  ever  heard  of  being  taken,  especially 
by  a  body  of  men  of  such  uniformly  high  intelli- 
gence as  the  T}^ographical  Union. 


122     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

"  Another  case  in  point  is  at  present  under  dis- 
cussion: We  are  the  official  printers  for  the  city. 
The  council  proceedings  embody  a  part  of  the  work 
we  are  awarded.  The  law  further  calls  for  a  cer- 
tain number  of  copies  of  all  ordinances  and  council 
proceedings  in  book  form.  "We  do  not  do  book- 
printing,  but  the  bids  must  cover  everything  called 
for  by  the  published  call  for  bids.  "We  made  a 
contract  to  turn  over  the  metal  to  another  firm 
which  bid  in  conjunction  with  us,  they  agreeing 
to  pay  us  a  certain  sum  for  the  type,  and  to  return 
the  metal  to  us  after  the  printing.  This  office  is 
an  open  one,  and  Tj'pographical  Union  is  carrying 
on  a  war  against  it.  They  notified  us  that  any 
attempt  to  deliver  this  t^'pe  would  result  in  a 
strike  at  once.  Our  agreement  provides  for  local 
arbitration  and  appeal  to  national  arbitration  be- 
fore such  steps  can  be  taken,  but  in  the  face  of 
this  we  were  debarred  from  giving  out  the  metal, 
have  submitted  a  list  of  fifty  local  men  who  would 
have  no  individual  interest  in  the  decision,  and 
have  had  the  entire  list  rejected,  and  a  list  made 
up  exclusively  of  union  men  submitted  in  its  stead. 
Eealising  that  no  progress  could  be  made  on  the 
line  of  arbitration,  we  suggested  that  all  the  work 
needful  in  the  composing  room  be  done  by  us  by 


LETTEES    PROM    EMPLOYERS      123 

printers  in  good  standing  in  the  union,  and  the 
forms  delivered  to  the  pressroom  of  the  other  cor- 
poration, which  is  also  exclusively  union.  The 
Typographical  Union  refused  to  accede  to  this  re- 
quest, and  the  matter  rests  in  that  state,  after  seven 
months.  In  the  meantime  we  are  compelled  to  buy 
new  material  which  is  not  needed,  lumber  up  all 
our  available  space  to  carry  three  tons  of  set  matter, 
and  no  conclusion  in  sight. 

"  One  short-sighted  phase  of  union  legislation, 
to  my  mind,  is  this:  When  an  exceptionally  good 
man  holds  a  position,  he  has  been  paid  in  excess  of 
the  scale  provided  for  that  position,  but  the  pub- 
lishers will  not  follow  this  course  any  further,  as 
the  next  scale  meeting  brings  with  it  a  demand 
for  the  price  which  has  been  paid  as  a  premium  for 
ability.  In  this  way  really  good  men  are  held  down 
to  the  scale,  whereas,  if  no  unfair  advantage  were 
taken  of  paying  the  better  men  more  than  his  fel- 
lows, in  many  instances  an  increase  would  be  paid. 

"  A  business  concern  making  an  error  must  pay 
for  the  same.  Not  so  with  a  union  man.  Regrets 
are  the  limit,  even  though  all  the  work  has  to  be 
done  over  again,  or  a  penalty  paid  for  the  error, 
by  the  paper. 

"  Union  regulations  call  for  '  priority '  in  plac- 


124      THE    INDUSTRIAL   CONFLICT 

ing  men  in  permanent  positions,  irrespective  of 
comparative  merit.  This  compels  foremen  in 
many  cases  to  bar  a  man  for  incompetency  who 
would  otherwise  be  given  work  as  an  extra,  but 
who  was  not  considered  eligible  to  be  a  reg- 
ular. 

"Discharges  can  only  be  made  when  a  written 
cause  is  assigned.  That  is  the  law,  though  it  is 
not  very  strictly  lived  up  to.  Verbal  reasons  are 
not  sufficient. 

"  If  two  institutions  owned  by  the  same  concern 
run  the  same  advertisement  and  a  matrix  is  fur- 
nished, the  men  must  be  paid  for  setting  that  same 
advertisement,  even  if  it  is  thrown  away  the  next 
minute.  Only  in  extra  emergencies  is  this  rule 
waived,  and  the  foreman  and  the  father  of  the 
chapel — as  the  resident  delegate  is  called — shall 
determine  what  constitutes  emergency. 

"  The  boast  of  the  union  that  only  skilled  work- 
men can  become  members  is  not  based  on  fact. 
There  is  no  examination  of  any  character,  there  is 
no  rule  which  applies  to  make  one  eligible  for 
membership  in  the  Typographical  Union.  A  stated 
period  of  apprenticeship  is  served,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  the  apprentice  becomes  a  journey- 
man. 


LETTERS    FROM   EMPLOYERS      125 

"  The  good  points  about  the  union  are  many : 
I  was  manager  of  a  paper  once  where  discipline 
called  for  the  discharge  of  the  foreman.  He  was 
extremely  popular  with  the  men,  and  his  discharge 
was  the  signal  for  all  hands  to  quit.  The  executive 
committee  of  the  union  got  together  a  crew  of  men, 
and  themselves  assisted  until  a  permanent  force 
was  secured,  so  that  no  embarrassment  resulted 
from  the  defection  of  the  men.  There  was  no 
discipline  imposed  upon  the  members,  however,  as 
it  was  conceded  to  be  their  privilege  to  quit  when- 
ever they  saw  fit. 

"  The  union  protects  men  from  bilious  fore- 
men. A  man's  temper  should  not  be  sufiicient 
excuse  for  his  taking  the  bread  and  butter  out  of 
another  man's  mouth;  it  prevents  imposition  in 
the  matter  of  hours  and  petty  annoyances;  it  pre- 
vents a  man  from  being  called  to  work  at  unseemly 
hours,  on  Sundays,  and  legal  holidays,  without 
making  the  price  so  high  that  whims  are  prohibi- 
tive. On  the  other  hand,  I  have  never  known  of 
a  union  asking  for  increased  pay  on  a  holiday 
when  employed  by  newspapers. 

"Unions  are  responsible  for  every  bit  of  legis- 
lation in  the  country  which  protects  childhood, 
and  womanhood,  life  and  limb.    Their  methods  at 


126      THE    INDUSTRIAL   CONFLICT 

times  ma}^  seem  high-handed,  but  it  is  a  matter 
of  self-preservation  to  refuse  to  work  with  the  man 
who  reaps  all  the  benefits  of  their  efforts  and  pays 
nothing  toward  keeping  up  their  organisation.  As 
a  workman  I  should  be  a  union  man;  as  an  em- 
ployer, generally  speaking,  I  believe  the  unions  to 
be  needful,  and  if  their  efforts  are  restricted  to  the 
disposal  of  their  labour  at  the  highest  possible 
price,  to  the  securing  of  short  hours  and  pleasant 
environments,  I'm  with  them.  When  they  step 
over  these  legitimate  bounds,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  it  is  an  individual  with  an  aggressive  per- 
sonality who  is  to  blame,  not  the  laws  and  regula- 
tions of  the  union." 


"I  beg  to  say  that  in  my  opinion  the  great 
prosperity  of  the  country  and  the  consequent  heavy 
demand  for  labour,  skilled  and  unskilled,  has  so 
reduced  the  available  supply  that  wages  of  all  em- 
ployees have  been  very  largely  increased.  This 
increase,  and  a  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labour, 
is  a  natural  and  unpreventable  consequence  of  the 
conditions,  and  with  these  changes  I  believe  rea- 
sonable employers  have  no  fault  to  find.  What 
they  do  feel  to  be  wrong,  however,  is  the  tendency 


LETTERS    FROM    EMPLOYERS      127 

of  trades  unions  to  insist  upon  the  standardisation 
of  a  day's  work,  and  upon  promotion  being  gov- 
erned by  seniority  rather  than  by  merit.  The  re- 
sult of  these  two  demands  is  to  lower  the  efficiency 
of  the  most  capable  man  to  the  level  of  the  lazy 
and  indifferent  one,  and  to  remove  from  the  am- 
bitious man  the  best  incentive  to  effort.  With  a 
standard  day's  work  and  a  seniority  rule  in  effect, 
the  average  employee's  aim  is  to  get  through  the 
day  with  as  little  exertion  of  mind  and  body  as 
practicable,  and  he  is  no  longer  a  faithful  servant, 
but  one  who  would  rather  see  harm  than  good 
come  to  his  employer. 

"  The  good  the  Church  can  do  is  for  its 
speakers  to  urge  upon  employers  the  right  of 
the  worker  to  fair  wages,  reasonable  hours  of 
work,  and  healthful  conditions  of  employment, 
and  upon  employees  the  giving  to  employers  of 
faithful  and  loyal  service." 

"  Briefly,  what  the  employer  wants  is  a  fair 
day's  work  for  a  fair  day's  pay.  Experience  has 
taught  him  in  many  cases  that  this  necessitates 
the  '  open  shop,'  for  with  the  '  closed  shop '  the 
management  of  the  internal  affairs  of  his  work- 


128      THE    INDUSTRIAL   CONFLICT 

rooms  is  practically  out  of  his  hands  and  in  the 
hands  not  even  of  his  own  employees,  but  of  an 
organisation  entirely  outside  and  unfamiliar  with 
the  conditions  of  his  particular  business. 

"Whether  or  not  the  closed  shop  is  necessary 
or  desirable  in  connection  with  very  large  enter- 
prises, I  do  not  undertake  to  say,  but  with  what 
some  of  our  labour  leaders  have  called  '  the  legiti- 
mate employer,'  i.  e.,  the  man  who  is  conducting 
his  own  business,  and  who  can  come  into  touch 
with  his  employees,  it  has  no  place,  and  the  em- 
ployers cannot  and  will  not  stand  for  it.  If  they 
are  obliged  to  do  so  temporarily  in  some  cases, 
they  will  chafe  under  it,  and  it  will  be  but  a  short 
time  before  the  aroused  spirit  of  independence 
must  make  its  continuance  impossible. 

"  Please  understand  that  by  the  '  open  shop '  I 
mean  just  exactly  that.  I  am  well  aware  that  the 
labour  unionists  claim  that  the  '  open  shop '  is  and 
must  be  a  *  non-union  shop.'  This  is  absolutely 
false  unless  the  unions  make  it  so  by  forbidding 
their  members  to  work  in  it. 

"  For  years  the  majority  of  the  printing  offices 
in  Boston  have  been  runuing  as  'open  shops,'  and 
after  a  strike  in  these  offices  more  than  two  years 
ago,  each  posted  a  notice  as  follows: 


LETTEES    FROM    EMPLOYEES      129 

THIS  IS  AN  OPEN   OFFICE 

No  discrimination  is  to  be  made  between 
union  and  non-union  employees.  It  is  one  of 
the  terms  of  employment  that  no  employee 
shall  refuse  at  any  time  to  handle  material 
on  the  ground  that  it  has  been  prepared  by 
union  or  non-union  men,  and  that  no  em- 
ployee shall  subject  any  fellow-employee  to 
annoyance  because  he  is  a  union  or  non- 
union man. 


"  And  all,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief, 
actually  lived  up  to  it,  with  the  result  that  when 
the  strike  was  called  here  last  Februar ',  hardly  a 
man  went  out,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  many 
of  them  had  been  union  men  until  that  time,  and 
I  challenge  anyone  to  show  that  wages  and  con- 
ditions here  have  not  compared  more  than  favour- 
ably with  those  in  other  cities  where  the  union 
'  closed  shop  '  prevailed. 

"  In  common  with,  I  think,  a  large  proportion 
of  employers,  I  believe  in  organised  labour.  If  it 
is  impossible  for  employers  sometimes  to  concede 
its  demands,  this  does  not  necessarily  mean  lack 
of  sympathy,  but  rather,  the  better  Judgment  of 
the  employers  is  against  a  move  which  in  the  long 
run  is  likely  to  prove  disastrous  to  both  employers 
and  employees,  as  their  interests  are  common  to  a 
larger  extent  than  is  generally  recognised." 


130      THE    IXDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

THE  LETTERS  CONDENSED 

1.  The  employer  wants  liberty  to  employ  his 
labour  in  the  labour  market  without  interference, 
and  to  employ  union  or  non-union  labour  at  will. 
This  means  the  "  open  shop." 

2.  He  wants  the  right  to  discharge  any  man  for 
incompetence,  intemperance,  or  lack  of  fidelity  to 
duty. 

3.  The  labour  unions  should  cease  their  unlawful 
acts  in  the  destruction  of  property  of  former  em- 
ployers, and  injury  to  persons  who  seek  their  posi- 
tions after  they  have  relinquished  them. 

4.  The  rest  of  the  labour  unions  should  be  con- 
ducted on  the  high  moral  and  business  methods  of 
the  Brotherhood  of  Eailway  Engineers. 

5.  Employees  when  they  make  contracts  should 
carry  out  their  contracts,  which  some  organisa- 
tions do  not  do. 

6.  Unions  should  confine  their  efforts  to  the  bet- 
terment of  hours,  wages,  and  working  conditions, 
and  not  attempt  to  control  other  matters. 

7.  Employers  want  loyalty  and  interest  in  the 
business,  industry  and  sobriety  on  the  part  of  the 
workingmen. 

8.  They  object  to  sympathetic  strikes. 


LETTERS    FROM    EMPLOYERS      131 

9.  They  want  the  rank  and  file  of  workingmen 
to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  unions,  and  not  al- 
low them  to  be  managed  by  a  few  restless  spirits. 

10.  They  object  to  the  character  of  the  labour 
leaders,  who  are  often  grafters  and  restless  spirits, 
who  make  trouble  simply  to  enhance  their  own 
importance. 

11.  They  want  a  proper  execution  of  the  laws 
by  the  judges  without  fear  of  the  labour  vote. 

12.  The  labourer  does  not  accomplish  in  a  work- 
ing day  as  much  as  he  did  ten  years  ago.  The 
progress  of  the  country,  industrially,  will  be 
checked  by  the  constant  cry  for  less  hours  and 
higher  pay. 

13.  The  employer  wants  men  who  will  do  their 
best  without  considering  remuneration  until  their 
capacity  and  ability  have  been  proven.  They  want 
men  who  are  willing  to  earn  more  than  they  get 
in  order  to  secure  results.  If  the  employer  has 
results,  he  is  perfectly  willing  to  increase  wages. 

14.  The  better  class  of  employers  wish  the  un- 
restricted opportunity  to  bind  their  workmen  to 
their  own  establishments  by  ties  of  mutual  interest 
through  fair  and  liberal  treatment,  and  by  extend- 
ing the  old-fashioned  inducements  for  skill,  in- 
dustry, and  faithfulness.    They  wish  to  be  able  to 


132     THE    INDUSTEIiYL    CONFLICT 

make  individual  concessions  to  the  most  skilled 
and  faithful  employees. 

15.  The  figure  of  speech  which  represents  the 
relation  between  capital  and  labour  as  one  of  war- 
fare has  done  more  than  anything  else  to  poison 
the  thought  and  embitter  the  feelings  of  the 
American  people.  That  simile  is  almost  universally 
used  in  the  publications  of  the  labour  unions. 

16.  The  ideas,  ambitions,  and  methods  of  the 
unions  are  toward  the  reduction  of  all  labour  to 
the  level  of  the  least  competent  and  the  least  fit. 

17.  Membership  in  the  union  should  be  a  guar- 
anty of  good  workmanship  with  no  restriction  of 
output. 

18.  Employers  object  to  the  standard  da/s 
work;  to  the  seniority  rule,  because  it  makes  the 
employee  aim  to  get  through  the  day  with  as  little 
exertion  of  mind  and  body  as  practicable. 


yi 

PRIMAEY  DEMANDS  OF  EMPLOYEES 

The  Point  of  View — Nature  of  Credit — 
Superintendence — Assaults  on  Persons  and 
Property — Violation  of  Contracts. 

One  of  the  reasons  for  the  difEculties  in  the  la- 
bour world  is  that  the  minds  of  employers  and 
employed  do  not  work  alike.  They  have  wholly 
different  points  of  view.  A  characteristic  oc- 
cupation not  only  produces  special  circum- 
stances in  the  outside  life;  it  tends  to  create 
a  special  type  of  mind.  It  is  hard  for  the 
Frenchman  to  understand  the  ethical  point  of  view 
of  the  Englishman;  it  is  hard  for  the  Englishman 
to  see  that  the  Frenchman  is  not  so  much  a  sinner 
as  he  is  excessively  frank.  The  Eoman  Catholic 
and  the  Protestant  find  it  hard  to  do  justice  to 
each  other.  ]\Iental  differences  run  through  all 
the  world,  and  make  most  of  its  problems.  There 
are  material  difficulties  in  the  labour  problem,  but 
it  cannot  be  insisted  too  strongly  that  many  of 
these  difficulties  are  psychological.  If,  for  example, 
the  workingman  could  get  the  point  of  view  that 

133 


134     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

in  a  large  and  real  sense  the  employer,  when  he 
is  a  superintendent  of  labour,  is  actually  the  serv- 
ant of  labour,  instead  of  its  master,  that  would 
be  a  gain;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the  employer 
could  get  the  point  of  view  that  the  collective  body 
of  labour  is  as  essential  to  his  enterprise  as  he  is 
himself,  it  might  ease  his  galled  shoulder  when  he 
pulls  a  heavy  load.  The  final  adjustment  of  la- 
bour troubles  must  depend  upon  the  successful 
effort  of  each  factor  to  realise  the  opposite  point 
of  view.  The  surface  antagonisms  which  depend 
upon  surface  differences  in  manner,  speech,  and 
mode  of  life  must  be  resolved  by  the  deeper  uni- 
ties of  the  recognition  of  essential  fellowship. 
That  essential  fellowship  belongs  not  alone  to  toil, 
but  to  the  range  of  human  wants,  and  to  capacity 
for  this  world  and  perhaps  another  world.  The 
workingman  wants  the  sympathy  of  his  employer; 
he  wants  the  human  touch;  but  there  are  employ- 
ers who  are  equally  hungry  for  the  sympathy  of 
the  workingman;  they  would  like  to  feel  that  he 
also  cares  for  their  burdens  and  diflBculties,  and 
that  his  joys  and  sorrows  are  related  to  the  hap- 
piness of  those  to  whom  he  is  related  in  the  busi- 
ness world. 

The  former  discussion  was  opened  with  an  argu- 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYEES        135 

ment  to  show  the  value  of  labour  unions.  In  like 
manner  the  present  discussion  would  be  unworthy 
the  great  subject  did  it  not  seek  to  show  clearly 
the  relation  of  the  employer  to  successful  produc- 
tion. It  is  obvious  that  capital  is  very  important 
to  most  enterprises,  and  to  some  enterprises  large 
capital  is  indispensable.  There  are  a  variety  of 
ways  in  which  this  capital  may  be  secured,  and  it 
does  not  always  belong  to  the  employer.  No 
matter  how  much  capital  a  man  may  have,  the 
economical  management  of  nearly  every  business 
depends  upon  credit.  That  is  to  say,  at  certain 
times  of  the  year  more  capital  is  required  than  at 
others.  There  must  be  some  arrangement  by  which 
capital  can  increase  and  shrink.  The  successful 
business  has  enough  capital  for  needs  at  the  mini- 
mum, but  must  borrow  at  the  times  of  the  year 
when  the  need  of  money  is  greater.  Of  course 
this  does  not  apply  to  the  plant,  but  it  does  apply 
to  such  matters  as  the  purchase  of  raw  material, 
the  carrying  on  of  the  enterprise  while  the  finished 
product  is  being  put  upon  the  market,  and  the  pay- 
ment of  wages,  and  other  expenses  before  collec- 
tions are  made.  Credit  will  be  seen  to  be  impor- 
tant to  the  successful  business  man,  even  though 
he  have  adequate  capital,  for  he  cannot  afford  to 


136      THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

overcapitalise  any  enterprise,  and  it  is  cheaper  to 
pay  interest  for  a  part  of  the  year  on  the  surplus 
required  than  to  have  his  own  money  lie  idle  a 
part  of  the  year.  And  many  enterprises  would  be 
impossible  to  employers  upon  the  amount  of  capital 
which  they  have,  apart  from  the  facts  stated  above. 
They  are  men  of  energy  and  daring,  and  they  are 
able  to  carry  on  enterprises  beyond  their  own 
financial  resources,  and  the  basis  upon  which  they 
carry  it  on  is  credit.  It  may  be  argued  that  the 
nature  of  the  business  and  its  probable  success  are 
elements  in  this  credit,  but  the  important  element 
in  the  credit  is  the  man  himself.  The  banks  do 
not  wish  to  take  charge  of  any  business  to  which 
they  lend  money.  They  want  their  money  back 
again.  For  this  they  rely  upon  the  character  and 
capacity  of  the  man  who  is  managing  the  business. 
Successful  production  would  be  greatly  crippled 
without  credit.  If  credit  should  vanish,  the  work- 
ingman  would  immediately  suffer.  In  times  of 
financial  stress  what  happens  is  the  disappearance 
of  credit;  we  all  know  how  many  other  things  hap- 
pen besides. 

But  it  is  the  value  of  the  employer  as  superin- 
tendent that  needs  to  be  emphasised  and  willingly 
recognised.    He  must  seek  out  the  cheapest  place 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYEES        137 

to  buy  the  raw  material;  he  must  know  the  best 
machines  to  turn  that  into  the  finished  product; 
he  must  have  the  capacity  to  finance  the  concern. 
In  large  establishments  these  functions  are  distrib- 
uted among  several  men,  but  they  all  come  under 
the  one  head  of  superintendence.  The  kind  of 
ability  required  for  successful  superintendence  is 
high  class;  manifestly,  it  must  be  well  paid.  No 
matter  how  skilful  the  workmen  are,  they  cannot 
succeed  unless  these  functions  are  successfully  per- 
formed. As  a  matter  of  fact,  many  a  workman 
has  suffered  by  the  incapacity  of  his  employer,  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  whole  range  of  successful 
production  has  for  its  initial  element  the  ability 
and  worth  of  the  employer  of  labour.  I  have 
argued  in  favour  of  shorter  hours  for  the  work- 
ingmen.  I  desire  also  to  plead  for  shorter  hours 
on  behalf  of  the  employer.  The  employer  has  no 
regular  working  day.  The  workingmen  can  lay 
down  their  tools  and  forget  their  tasks,  but  the 
employer,  particularly  in  times  of  stress,  walks 
with  his  work,  eats  with  his  work,  and  sleeps  with 
his  work,  for  it  haunts  him  in  his  dreams,  and  in 
times  of  danger  and  difficulty  robs  him  of  sleep 
and  keeps  him  working  at  such  long  hours  as 
amounts  to  slavery.     I  have  often  remonstrated 


138     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

with  employers  because  of  their  cruelty  to  them- 
selves. Their  ambitions  for  success  are  often  so 
great  that  everything  is  sacrificed  to  them.  They 
are  not  only  angry  when  workmen  wish  greater 
wages,  but  they  are  impatient  when  any  of  the 
higher  interests  of  society  demand  their  attention. 
They  become  hard  and  selfish;  they  succeed,  but 
the  price  of  the  success  is  too  great.  Into  the  bar- 
gain they  have  put  the  generous  aspirations  of 
youth,  social  duties  and  obligations,  domestic  af- 
fections and  opportunities,  the  culture  of  the  mind, 
the  uplift  of  the  soul,  and  finally,  the  health  of 
the  body,  to  win  a  success  the  value  of  which  de- 
pends upon  the  senses,  but  it  is  only  won  after  the 
senses  are  jaded,  the  body  is  crippled,  and  they  are 
ready  to  drop  into  untimely  graves  the  victims  of 
remorseless  struggle.  A  great  employer  and  a 
successful  man  once  said  to  me,  "  Do  you  suppose 
I  would  go  again  through  all  the  terrible  strain 
that  I  have  passed  through  in  the  last  thirty  years 
even  if  I  knew  I  should  have  as  much  money  as 
I  have  now?  Do  you  think  that  the  money  is 
worth  it  ?  "  Frankly,  I  do  not  think  the  money  is 
worth  it.  The  whole  tone  of  the  industrial  or- 
ganisation needs  to  be  recast.  The  perspective  of 
human  life  needs  to  be  set  in  a  clearer  light.     The 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYEES        139 

task  is  not  easy,  for  it  is  only  those  who  really 
know  what  man  is  in  all  the  range  of  his  Godlike 
powers  who  are  fitted  to  decide  what  life  should 
be.  The  new  ethics  will  demand  that  a  man 
rightly  love  himself,  for  after  all  it  is  only  the 
man  who  knows  his  real  duty  to  himself  who  can 
rightly  love  his  neighbour.  The  employer  who  is 
willing  to  sacrifice  every  interest  in  life  to  the  ac- 
cumulation of  property,  who  gives  to  it  his  own 
body  and  his  soul,  will  doubtless  be  very  impatient 
with  respect  to  any  demand  of  workingmen. 

To  the  workingmen,  however,  it  must  be  pointed 
out  that  employers  as  a  class,  though  they  some- 
times achieve  wealth,  often  fail  in  its  pursuit.  It 
is  the  very  few  who  amass  great  wealth  in  legiti- 
mate business.  Those  who  amass  wealth  in  ille- 
gitimate ways  must  finally  be  attended  to  by  the 
criminal  code,  but  the  few  who  amass  great  wealth 
in  legitimate  business  must  have  extraordinary 
capacity  and  make  extraordinary  sacrifices.  They 
may  have  a  great  show  of  material  resources,  but 
the  question  still  comes,  as  of  old,  what  profit  if 
a  man  gain  the  world  and  lose  his  life?  The 
workingman  must  get  a  larger  horizon.  He  also 
must  learn  to  look  not  alone  upon  his  own  things, 
but  also  upon  the  things  of  another.     He  sees  hia 


140     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

employer  come  to  the  office  perhaps  after  he  has 
been  at  work  for  an  hour;  the  employer  rides  to 
the  work,  the  workman  walks.  The  employer 
would  doubtless  have  a  better  digestion  if  he  also 
walked,  but  the  employer  is  not  having  as  easy  a 
time  as  the  workingman  supposes.  He  may  not 
work  with  his  hands,  but  he  works  with  tired  brain 
and  tingling  nerves.  He  does  not  carry  a  load 
upon  his  back  that  men  may  see,  and  may  not  have 
to  brush  dirt  from  his  clothes,  but  often  he  is 
carrying  a  load  of  responsibility  under  which  his 
mental  faculties  stagger.  It  is  only  because  he 
succeeds  that  the  business  succeeds.  He  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  enterprise.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  the  production  of  wealth  depends 
solely  upon  manual  labour;  it  cannot  succeed 
without  manual  labour,  but  neither  can  manual 
labour  succeed  without  wise  superintendence. 

There  is  a  feeling  upon  the  part  of  many  em- 
ployers that  the  unions  make  demands  that  are 
trifling  in  their  nature,  and  which  often  amount 
to  unwise  exactions.  They  think,  further,  that 
labour  leaders  often  seek  to  interfere  in  the  con- 
duct of  business  in  matters  which  are  not  directly 
related  to  the  interest  of  the  workmen.  Abundant 
testimony  can  be  furnished  that  unions  go  outside 


DEMA:N^DS    of    employees        14l 

of  the  matters  of  wages,  hours,  and  sanitar)^  con- 
ditions. These  seem  to  be  the  present  legitimate 
domain  of  mutual  discussion,  and  it  is  necessary 
for  workingmen  to  have  some  regard  to  the  rights 
of  superintendence.  In  the  struggle  for  existence, 
the  man  who  is  in  charge  of  the  business  has  found 
his  place.  He  may  not  be  the  best  man,  ideally, 
for  the  place,  but  he  is  the  best  man  the  place  has 
or  can  have,  for  his  interest  in  the  business  is  in- 
alienable. It  is  to  the  interest  of  the  business,  and 
therefore  to  the  interest  of  the  workingman  whose 
wages  must  be  paid  from  the  business,  that  his 
hands  shall  not  be  tied.  If  he  has  to  spend  a  con- 
siderable part  of  his  time  and  energy  in  deciding 
what  he  shall  do  to  meet  possible  demands  of  the 
workingmen  with  respect  to  matters  outside  of 
their  province,  he  does  it  at  the  expense  of  nerve 
force  and  brain  energy  that  it  is  better  for  all  con- 
cerned should  be  applied  to  the  promotion  of  the 
business. 

The  employers  desire  that  unlawful  acts  in  the 
destruction  of  property  and  injury  to  persons 
should  cease.  This  is  a  question  broader  than  the 
interests  of  the  two  parties  to  the  labour  question. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  the  success  of  labour  or  the 
success  of  capital.     It  is  a  question  of  the  success 


142      THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

of  American  institutions.  There  can  be  no  per- 
manent victories  won  by  labour  that  are  not  won 
under  the  form  of  law,  I  hold  to  the  view  that 
the  member  of  a  union  has  a  right  to  persuade 
another  man  not  to  accept  the  job  which  he  has 
left,  but  he  must  not  persuade  him  with  a  shot- 
gun. He  has  a  right  to  urge  his  fellow-workman 
to  join  his  union,  but  he  must  not  urge  him  by 
putting  a  stick  of  dynamite  under  his  house.  It 
is  not  fair  to  hold  organised  labour  responsible  for 
the  acts  of  individuals,  but  it  is  fair  to  hold  organ- 
ised labour  responsible  for  its  attitude  toward 
those  who  commit  unlawful  acts.  Organised 
labour  must  purge  itself  from  any  suspicion  of 
violence  to  secure  its  ends,  or  organised  labour 
must  suffer  the  consequences.  It  is  as  intolerable 
to  allow  murder,  arson,  and  riot  in  the  alleged 
friends  of  labour  as  it  is  in  any  other  class. 
Murder,  arson,  and  riot  are  crimes  which  the  whole 
body  of  society  is  under  obligations  to  resist  with 
all  the  force  at  its  command.  The  man  who  hits 
the  non-union  man  over  the  head  with  a  club  is 
not  the  friend  of  organised  labour,  but  its  enemy. 
There  are  to  be  no  victories  in  this  country  for 
assassination.  If  the  union  differs  from  the  em- 
ployer of  labour,  it  must  not  seek  to  convince  him 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYERS        143 

by  burning  down  his  shop  or  warehouse.  These 
things  are  not  said  in  the  interests  of  the  rights 
of  property;  they  are  said  in  the  interests  of  the 
workingman  himself.  The  weak  and  the  poor  are 
only  safe  because  greed  and  strength,  power  and 
position  are  compelled  to  obey  the  laws.  A  law- 
less condition  of  affairs  means  the  success  at  last 
of  the  army.  The  only  way  out  of  the  breakdown 
of  lawful  and  orderly  society  is  the  military 
despotism,  but  the  military  despotism  means  a  re- 
newal of  serfdom.  It  is  possible  that  as  a  result 
of  present  conditions,  inflamed  passions,  the  un- 
wisdom of  leaders,  our  social  institutions  will  be 
dissolved,  but  it  is  not  possible  that  anarchy 
should  remain  as  the  permanent  condition  under 
which  men  and  women  will  live.  The  building 
of  a  social  order  is  the  logical  and  necessary  result 
of  human  association.  This  is  the  lesson  of  all 
human  history.  There  is  only  one  way  for  labour 
unions  to  act  in  this  matter,  and  that  is  to  expel 
from  their  ranks  every  man  who  is  guilty  of  break- 
ing any  law.  The  labour  unions  are  more  inter- 
ested in  securing  the  conviction  of  those  who 
assault  persons  or  destroy  property  than  any  other 
class.  With  the  preservation  of  the  social  order, 
every  interest  of  labour  is  bound  up.     All  wise 


144     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

leaders  of  labour  thoroughly  understand  these 
principles,  and  more  and  more  labour  will  emerge 
from  this  condition  of  probation  into  a  condition 
of  security  by  following  their  guidance.  If  the 
courts  of  law  can  be  intimidated  and  threatened 
by  anonymous  letters  suggesting  violence  or  re- 
prisal at  the  polls,  the  same  courts  will  be  the  prey 
to  the  seductions  of  those  who  represent  the  money 
power.  The  safe  court  is  the  untrammelled  court. 
Upon  the  purity  of  the  courts  the  safety  of  society 
depends.  It  has  been  the  boast  of  the  American 
people  for  a  hundred  years  that  whatever  faults 
the  young  democracy  might  have,  its  courts  were 
secure,  and  in  general  that  boast  has  always  been 
justified  by  the  facts,  and  is  to-day. 

The  workingman  pleads  for  the  sense  of  brother- 
hood, and  asks  xor  the  human  touch,  and  he  does 
well ;  but  the  workingman  must  remember  that  the 
emplo3'er  is  his  brother;  he  must  also  remember 
that  the  non-union  man  is  his  brother.  In  a  free 
country  we  do  not  beat  out  one  another's  brains  for 
difference  of  opinions.  A  non-union  man  may  be 
foolish,  and  I  think  he  is  foolish,  but  he  must  be 
persuaded  by  the  effective  display  of  reasons  for 
joining  the  union;  he  must  be  shown  that  his  in- 
terests lie  with  the  unions.     This  is  a  process  of 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYEES        145 

education  and  not  intimidation.  It  is  neither  wise 
nor  right  for  any  representatives  of  labour  to  ap- 
peal to  force ;  they  must  appeal  to  justice,  and  they 
must  strengthen  their  appeal  by  themselves  being 
just.  Labour  has  come  far.  It  has  secured  many 
successes,  but  all  the  victories  that  labour  has  won 
thus  far  are  imperilled  to-day  by  the  doubt  that 
society  has  whether  organised  labour  can  be 
trusted  to  use  only  peaceable  means.  If  force  is 
to  be  resorted  to  on  one  side,  there  can  be  no  ob- 
jection to  its  being  resorted  to  upon  the  other  side. 
Brute  war  becomes  elemental,  and  in  the  storm 
the  values  of  a  thousand  years  may  perish.  Let 
us  not  bo  compelled  to  go  back  again  to  the  days 
of  the  beginning  and  deal  afresh  with  Caesars  and 
with  Napoleons,  for  after  the  earthquake  that 
shakes  down  institutions  there  comes  the  fire 
which  consumes  the  homes  of  the  individuals.  It 
is  better  to  debate  and  not  to  shoot.  It  is  better 
to  convince  the  reason  rather  than  to  bruise  the 
flesh. 

Seventy  years  ago,  when  a  young  man,  Abraham 
Lincoln,  that  far-sighted  friend  of  man,  uttered 
these  words : 

"  I  know  the  American  people  are  much  attached 


146     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

to  their  government;  I  know  they  would  suffer 
much  for  its  sake ;  I  know  they  would  endure  evils 
long  and  patiently  before  they  would  ever  think 
of  exchanging  it  for  another;  yet  notwithstanding 
all  this,  if  the  laws  be  continually  despised  and 
disregarded,  if  their  rights  to  be  secure  in  their 
persons  and  property  are  held  by  no  better  tenure 
than  the  caprice  of  a  mob,  the  alienation  of  their 
affections  from  the  government  is  the  natural  con- 
sequence; and  to  that,  sooner  or  later,  it  must 
come.  Here  then  is  one  point  at  which  danger 
may  be  expected. 

"  The  question  recurs,  How  shall  we  fortify 
against  it?  The  answer  is  simple.  Let  every 
American,  every  lover  of  liberty,  every  well-wisher 
to  his  posterity,  swear  by  the  blood  of  the  Eevolu- 
tion  never  to  violate  in  the  least  particular  the 
laws  of  the  country,  and  never  to  tolerate  their 
violation  by  others.  As  the  patriots  of  'seventy- 
six  did  to  the  support  of  the  constitution  and  laws, 
let  every  American  pledge  his  life,  his  property, 
and  his  sacred  honour.  Let  every  man  remember 
that  to  violate  the  law  is  to  trample  on  the  blood 
of  his  father,  and  to  tear  the  charter  of  his  own 
and  his  children's  liberty.  Let  reverence  for  the 
laws  be  breathed  by  every  American  mother  to  the 


DEMANDS    OF   EMPLOYEES        147 

lisping  babe  that  prattles  on  her  lap;  let  it  be 
taught  in  schools,  in  seminaries,  in  colleges ;  let  it 
be  written  in  primers,  spelling  books  and  in 
almanacs;  let  it  be  preached  from  the  pulpit,  pro- 
claimed in  legislative  halls,  and  enforced  in  courts 
of  justice.  And,  in  short,  let  it  become  the  politi- 
cal religion  of  the  nation ;  and  let  the  old  and  the 
young,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  grave  and  the 
gay  of  all  sexes  and  tongues  and  colours  and  con- 
ditions sacrifice  unceasingly  upon  its  altars." 

I  have  quoted  these  words  years  ago  in  another 
connection.  It  still  seems  true  that  every  viola- 
tion of  municipal  law  by  municipal  officers  is  a 
social  poison.  It  still  seems  true  that  even  injus- 
tice that  is  sanctioned  by  law  were  better  borne  in 
a  free  country  where  the  ballot  is  in  every  man's 
hand,  rather  than  that  justice  should  be  secured 
by  violence  and  fraud.  The  only  argument  for 
free  institutions  that  is  unanswerable  is  that  the 
people  may  finally  be  depended  upon  to  decide 
questions  upon  sound  ethical  principles.  Labour 
and  capital  alike  must  depend  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  the  conscience  in  the  electorate  guided  by 
the  voices  of  reason.  Any  cause  that  cannot  wait 
for  these  methods,  whether  it  have  the  name  of 


148      THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

vested  interests  and  associated  capital  upon  the 
one  side,  or  whether  it  be  in  the  name  of  the  plain 
people  and  of  organised  labour  upon  the  other 
side,  must  perish  and  ought  to  perish. 

The  duty  to  maintain  order  rests  with  the 
legally  constituted  authorities.  If  the  local  au- 
thorities are  not  sufficient,  appeal  must  be  made 
to  the  State;  if  the  State  fails,  recourse  must  be 
had  to  the  forces  of  the  nation ;  if  the  nation  fails, 
we  have  anarchy.  When  authority  fails,  rough 
justice  may  be  meted  out  by  the  mob,  but  mob 
rule  is  anarchy. 

This  doctrine  is  at  once  recognised  until  it  is 
practically  applied.  All  men  not  swayed  by  pas- 
sion will  agree  that  it  is  better  that  the  guilty 
should  sometimes  escape  than  that  private 
vengeance  should  again  sway  the  world.  Private 
preparations  for  the  protection  of  property  by 
armed  force  under  the  control  of  private  persons 
or  corporations,  and  at  their  expense,  are  pro- 
vocative of  trouble.  Armed  guards,  Pinkerton 
detectives,  men  loaned  from  the  police  of  other 
cities,  or  special  deputies  appointed  by  sheriffs  by 
the  request  and  at  the  expense  of  employers  of 
labour,  have  probably  caused  more  trouble  than 
they  have  prevented.     At  any  rate,  the  principles 


DEMANDS    or    EMPLOYEES        149 

underlying  their  use  are  a  part  of  the  doctrine  of 
mob  law  under  a  new  form. 

It  is  the  business  of  the  State,  as  the  authorita- 
tive organ  of  society,  to  preserve  order  and  to 
punish  crime  at  the  expense  of  the  public.  Reg- 
ularly constituted  officers  of  the  law  have  the 
majesty  of  organised  society  behind  them.  They 
will  be  obeyed  when  new  or  unusual  organs  of 
order,  though  organised  under  cover  of  the  law, 
stir  the  passions  and  arouse  the  hate  of  men. 

Order  secured  through  the  regular  authorities 
is  the  only  form  that  has  any  promise  of  perma- 
nence. An  overpowering  number  of  deputies  may 
quell  trouble,  but  the  fact  that  the  deputies  are 
regarded  as  the  servants  of  the  corporations  and 
not  the  servants  of  the  law,  leaves  behind  it  a 
legacy  of  revenge  that  will  find  its  way  into  new 
forms  of  violence  as  soon  as  opportunity  shall  be 
presented.  Public  officers,  without  interest  or 
passion,  solely  as  the  representatives  of  the  authori- 
tative justice  of  society,  and  paid  wholly  from 
public  funds,  must  be  relied  upon  to  preserve  the 
public  order. 

Employers  ask  that  the  labour  unions,  when  they 
make  contracts,  carry  them  out.  This  seems  such 
a  plain  business  proposition    that  one  would  be 


150     THE    INDUSTEIAL   CONFLICT 

surprised  that  such  a  request  were  made  at  all  did 
not  the  facts  in  a  number  of  cases  indicate  that 
there  is  reason  for  it.  The  whole  business  world 
rests  upon  the  doctrine  of  obligation  of  contracts. 
A  man  agrees  to  do  a  certain  act,  provided  his 
fellow  performs  another  act.  Upon  the  presump- 
tion that  men  will  be  faithful  to  their  engage- 
ments, capital  is  risked,  enterprises  are  engaged 
in,  and  the  whole  commercial  world  has  its  life  and 
activity.  It  is  true  that  men  in  all  walks  of  life 
are  to  be  found  who  will  seek  to  evade  their  con- 
tracts and  sometimes  to  break  them.  On  this  ac- 
count it  has  been  necessary  to  build  up  a  body  of 
legislation  and  of  Judicial  precedent  for  reprisals 
if  men  will  not  keep  their  contracts.  Not  alone 
does  the  betrayed  person  suffer,  but  social  justice 
says  that  the  offender  shall  also  be  made  to  suffer. 
The  labour  unions  refuse  to  incorporate.  Some 
say  that  it  is  to  avoid  the  penalties  that  might  be 
enforced  for  breaking  contracts.  Others  say  that 
it  is  to  avoid  obligation  for  damages  by  members 
of  the  union  in  carrjdng  out  the  orders  of  the 
•union  to  strike.  Whatever  may  be  the  legal  ar- 
rangements, and  with  these  I  have  nothing  to  do, 
it  must  be  insisted  that  the  moral  obligation  to  keep 
a  contract  rests  both  upon  the  individual  man, 
upon  the  union  to  which  he  belongs,  and  also  upon 


DEMANDS    OP    EMPLOYERS        151 

the  directing  national  organisation.  If  men  agree 
for  a  certain  wage  to  work  so  many  hours  per  day, 
or  per  week,  for  a  term  of  years,  no  change  of 
circumstances,  except  the  failure  of  the  employer 
to  keep  his  word,  will  atone  for  breaking  the 
pledge.  There  are  a  sufficient  number  of  cases 
upon  record  to  show  that  there  is  not  the  sense  of 
obligation  among  labour  leaders  that  there  should 
be  at  this  point.  In  the  case  of  the  T}'pographical 
Union,  described  by  one  of  my  correspondents, 
there  is  a  distinct  violation  of  the  principles  of 
arbitration  to  which  the  union  had  definitely  con- 
sented. Another  case  is  that  of  the  recent  lithog- 
raphers' strike,  as  detailed  by  Mr.  Frank  Stecher. 
He  says  that  after  the  representatives  of  the  em- 
ployers and  the  workingmen  had  agreed  with  prac- 
tical unanimity  upon  a  contract,  it  was  submitted 
to  the  unions  by  referendum  and  rejected.  They 
ask,  and  I  think  not  unreasonably,  that  the  con- 
ferrees  who  represented  the  union  should  have 
power  to  bind  the  unions  as  a  prerequisite  to  a 
further  conference.  In  the  dispute  between  the 
Lithographers'  International  Protective  and  Bene- 
ficial Association,  the  employers  offered  to  confer, 
and  if  the  conference  failed,  to  submit  the  whole 
matter  to  arbitration.  This  was  refused,  and  a 
strike  for  the  eight-hour  day  was  made  without 


152     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

giving  an  opportunity  even  for  the  question  to 
be  submitted  by  referendum  to  the  union.  The 
lithographers  wanted  an  eight-hour  day;  it  is 
very  likely  that  they  were  right  in  this  contention, 
but  from  the  prima  facie  statement  of  the  case  it 
is  evident  that  they  were  wrong  in  their  methods. 
I  have  cited  these  two  cases,  not  for  the  purpose  of 
passing  judgment  upon  them,  for  I  am  not  in  pos- 
session of  all  the  facts,  but  in  order  to  make  clear 
and  definite  the  statement  of  certain  principles. 
Unions  may  refuse  to  agree  to  bind  themselves  to 
accept  a  certain  scale  of  wages  for  a  certain  def- 
inite length  of  time.  They  may  refuse  to  arbi- 
trate in  case  of  future  disputes,  but,  having  agreed 
to  the  scale,  or  having  agreed  to  arbitrate,  they 
have  no  right  to  break  this  agreement.  The  in- 
tegrity of  the  unions  is  only  one  of  the  issues.  It 
is  even  more  vital  to  the  interests  of  the  unions 
that  they  should  keep  their  contracts  than  it  is  to 
the  employers,  for  unless  the  unions  can  establish 
confidence  in  their  good  faith  among  their  own 
members,  they  cannot  exist.  If  the  members  of 
the  union  see  that  the  leaders  of  the  union  are 
ready  to  betray  the  employers,  the  suspicion  will 
grow  that  the  same  leaders  will,  on  occasion,  be- 
tray the  unions. 


VII 

SECONDAEY  DEMANDS   OF  EMPLOYEES 

Labour  Leaders — The  Sympathetic  Strike — 
Discipline  in  the  Labour  Union — Effort  for 
Monopoly — Loyalty  to  the  Business — The  La- 
bour Press. 

No  position  of  responsibility  in  this  country  at 
this  time  demands  higher  ability  or  more  character 
than  the  position  of  labour  leader.  There  is  a 
feeling  among  many  men  connected  with  neither 
side  of  the  controversy  that  the  unions  have  not 
always  been  as  careful  as  they  might  have  been  in 
the  selections  of  their  local  leaders.  They  have 
chosen  men  who  were  bold,  eager,  and  gifted  with 
the  art  of  speech.  They  should  have  chosen  men 
who  were  resourceful,  intelligent,  patient,  and 
thoroughly  honest.  The  charge  that  there  are 
sometimes  grafters  among  labour  leaders  seems  to 
be  abundantly  proven,  but  it  is  no  argument 
against  the  cause  of  labour.  We  wish  the  unions 
would  be  more  careful  in  the  choice  of  their  lead- 
ers, and  crush  out  the  grafters;  we  also  wish  the 

153 


154     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

directors  of  banks  would  be  more  careful  in  the 
selection  of  their  oflQcers,  and  see  that  no  em- 
bezzlers are  found  among  them.  Occasional 
grafters  among  the  labour  leaders  does  not  prove 
the  insincerity  or  unworthiness  of  the  labour  cause, 
any  more  than  the  occasional  defalcation  of  a  bank 
officer  proves  the  general  untrustworthiness  of 
financial  institutions.  It  is  not  unnatural  that 
the  rank  and  file  of  workingmen  should  leave  a 
great  deal  to  their  leaders  without  due  considera- 
tion, but  the  methods  for  the  protection  of  the  in- 
terests of  labour  are  precisely  the  same  as  the 
methods  which  must  be  employed  for  the  protec- 
tion of  American  politics.  It  is  only  when  the 
whole  citizensliip  becomes  intelligently  interested 
in  all  great  public  questions,  and  engages  actively 
in  the  support  of  its  convictions  and  in  the  selec- 
tion of  its  leaders,  that  our  political  institutions 
are  safe.  In  like  manner,  the  rank  and  file  of 
labour  must  take  the  trouble  to  inform  themselves 
on  all  the  great  issues,  and  must  be  actively  en- 
gaged in  shaping  policies  and  in  securing  safe  and 
wise  leadership. 

This  leads  directly  to  the  question  of  the  sym- 
pathetic strike.  It  is  stated  that  unions  fre- 
quently go  out  on  strike  when  they  have  not  the 


DEMANDS    OF   EMPLOYEES       155 

slightest  grievance  of  their  own,  simply  because 
they  are  ordered  to  strike.  To  condemn  the  s5Tn- 
pathetic  strike  without  due  consideration  shows  a 
lack  of  appreciation  of  the  conditions  of  the  labour 
movement.  It  is  the  solidarity  of  labour  which 
gives  it  its  strength.  If  men  in  the  labour  unions 
think  they  have  a  real  grievance  and  find  that  they 
cannot  obtain  consideration  from  their  employers, 
the  last  resort  is  to  strike.  If  they  strike,  they 
must  use  every  means  to  win  the  battle,  for  what- 
ever may  be  said  about  the  use  of  terms,  a  strike, 
even  under  the  most  peaceable  conditions,  is  noth- 
ing less  than  war.  A  s}Tnpathetic  strike  is  the 
loan  of  time  and  influence  to  other  unions,  to  be 
returned  with  interest  in  a  time  of  need.  If  the 
first  battalion  cannot  win  the  fight,  labour  has 
certainly  a  right  to  call  up  another  battalion,  and 
by  and  by  to  call  out  the  regiments  and  divisions 
until  the  army  is  large  enough  and  strong  enough 
to  win  the  fight,  but  there  is  one  distinct  limita- 
tion upon  the  right  of  the  sympathetic  strike: 
No  union  that  has  made  a  contract  for  a  definite 
scale  and  for  definite  hours  to  run  for  a  definite 
number  of  years,  has  any  right  to  go  out  on  a 
Bympathetic  strike  during  that  time,  any  more 
than  it  has  a  right  to  strike  on  its  own  account. 


156     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

The  law  of  contract  forbids  it.  Men  must  keep 
their  agreements;  if  they  do  not  keep  their  agree- 
ments, they  cannot  win  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  the  general  public,  and,  strong  as  the  army  of 
labour  is,  particularly  in  certain  crafts,  it  is  by  no 
means  so  strong  as  organised  society  taken  to- 
gether, and  at  last  it  must  bow  to  the  virtue  and 
wisdom  which  have  made  business  and  industry 
possible  among  civilised  men.  Labour  must  keep 
its  contracts. 

The  note  of  approval  in  one  of  the  letters  for  the 
Brotherhood  of  Eailway  Engineers  is  nothing  new 
in  the  labour  world.  For  years  that  organisation 
has  merited  and  received  the  esteem  of  the  gen- 
eral public.  One  writer  describes  their  business 
methods  as  being  upon  the  highest  plane,  and  asks 
that  other  unions  imitate  them.  This  brother- 
hood has  not  suffered  on  account  of  the  dignity, 
carefulness,  and  honour  with  which  it  has  con- 
ducted its  affairs,  nor  will  any  other  union  suffer 
from  the  same  virtues. 

I  have  insisted  upon  patience  as  one  of  the  nec- 
essary virtues  of  the  workingman,  and  so  it  is.  It 
is  unfair  to  employers  to  propose  a  sudden  revolu- 
tion in  their  relations  to  their  workmen.  They 
may  have  made  contracts  involving  large  sums  of 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYEES        157 

money,  and  based  upon  a  certain  amount  of  output 
which  they  have  reason  to  expect,  and  a  certain 
wage  price  for  this  commodity.  By  some  sudden 
readjustment,  the  output  may  be  impossible,  the 
wage  price  may  be  greatly  increased,  and  the  em- 
ployer suffers  large  losses.  The  damage  is  not 
damage  to  the  employer  alone;  it  is  a  damage  to 
the  business.  If  the  workmen  have  a  real  share 
in  the  ownership  of  the  business,  as  they  often 
claim,  by  such  methods  and  measures  they  cripple 
their  own  resources  and  destroy  their  own  future. 
I  have  spoken  of  organised  labour  as  a  means  of 
discipline.  It  has  frequently  proved  so  in  the 
restraint  of  hot-headed  leaders  of  local  unions,  and 
in  the  settlement  of  strikes  deemed  to  be  untimely 
and  unwise,  but  the  function  of  the  labour  unions 
as  an  organ  of  discipline  must  be  largely  extended 
if  labour  is  to  reach  the  place  of  power  which  it 
seeks.  The  matter  of  the  scale  of  wages,  it  is  as- 
serted by  the  employer,  brings  the  skilful  workman 
down  to  the  level  of  the  least  competent  and  the 
least  fit.  This,  of  course,  is  denied  by  the  repre- 
sentatives of  labour.  They  say  that  they  fix  the 
lowest  wages,  and  that  it  is  perfectly  within  the 
power  of  the  employer  to  give  individual  mem- 
bers of  the  union  a  higher  scale  if  he  wishes.    But 


158     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

when  the  scale  has  been  the  subject  of  controversy 
and  the  general  scale  has  fixed  the  price  for  a 
da/s  work  beyond  what  has  hitherto  been  paid, 
it  is  evident  that  the  minimum  scale  of  the  labour 
union  will  be  the  maximum  scale  that  the  em- 
ployer will  grant.  Moreover,  when  the  employers 
have  picked  out  individuals  among  their  workmen 
whom  they  regard  as  specially  worthy  of  con- 
fidence, and  have  granted  them  wages  at  a  higher 
rate,  the  unions  very  often,  upon  the  discovery 
of  the  fact,  seek  to  make  that  higher  price  once 
more  the  average  scale.  It  would  seem  that  steps 
forward  must  be  taken  in  the  direction  of  dis- 
cipline. The  working  out  of  the  details  of  this 
matter  must,  of  course,  be  left  to  the  unions  them- 
selves, but  as  an  indication  of  what  is  meant,  it 
may  be  suggested  that  definite  tests  of  fitness 
should  be  made  for  every  man  who  wishes  to  be- 
come a  member  of  the  union.  No  man  should  be 
accepted  as  a  workman  entitled  to  receive  the  wage 
scale  unless  he  passes  the  test.  The  mere  fact 
that  he  has  served  the  time  of  an  apprentice  is  not 
enough,  and  this  matter  is  especially  important  in 
those  occupations  that  demand  the  most  skill.  It 
is  a  question  whether  the  unions  should  not  make 
some  classification  of  workmen.     I  know  that  the 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYEES        159 

answer  to  this  suggestion  will  be  that  such  a  meas- 
ure would  destroy  the  equality  which  is  so  desirable 
in  the  union.  But  when  there  is  no  real  equality 
of  service,  a  false  equality  of  reward  cannot  be 
based  upon  sound  economic  principles.  Discrim- 
inations made  by  the  unions  themselves  would 
be  a  pledge  of  effort  upon  the  part  of  their  work- 
ingmen  to  gain  entrance  to  the  first  rank.  It 
seems  to  me  that  it  would  provide  a  desirable 
stimulus  for  the  improvement  of  all  grades  of 
worko 

The  standard  day's  work  has  been  carried  to 
a  much  further  extent  in  some  countries  than 
in  others,  and  in  some  parts  of  our  country  than 
in  otherSo  The  standard  day's  work  which  says 
that  a  man,  no  matter  what  his  capacity  or  will- 
ingness, can  only  perform  so  much  labour  in  a  day 
or  he  is  put  under  the  ban,  is  distinctly  the  enemy 
of  the  shorter  day.  Society  is  interested  in  abun- 
dant production.  The  short  day's  work  should  be 
the  rapid  day's  work.  What  is  gained  in  time 
should  be  made  up  in  vigour.  If  the  time  should 
ever  come  when  the  general  body  of  workingmen 
think  more  of  their  wages  than  they  do  of  their 
work,  it  would  be  just  as  bad  for  the  workingmen 
as  it  would  be  for  anybody  else.     Some  people 


160     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

think  that  time  has  come  now.  If  the  unions  pro- 
pose to  assume  control  of  the  labour  element  in 
production,  and  to  treat  with  employers  upon  all 
essential  differences,  leaving  to  employers  the 
management  of  the  plant,  the  purchase  of  the 
raw  material,  and  the  sale  of  the  output,  the  labour 
unions  must  measure  up  to  the  responsibility  of 
the  position.  In  the  long  run  it  cannot  be  done 
by  force,  either  the  force  of  numbers  or  by  special 
legislation,  or  in  any  other  way  that  does  not  prove 
that  labour  can  best  manage  itself.  No  organ 
could  be  devised  that  has  in  it  such  capacity  for 
usefulness  in  this  direction  as  the  labour  unions. 
They  are  next  to  the  problem.  They  have  over- 
seers at  every  point;  they  know  men's  habits  and 
their  conditions  of  life.  Such  a  view  of  the  sub- 
ject is  self-government  in  the  highest  degree. 
With  a  union  taking  such  a  view  of  its  position 
and  responsibility,  the  employer  would  never  ask 
for  the  right  to  discharge  men  for  intemperance, 
incompetence,  or  lack  of  fidelity  to  duty ;  the  union 
would  see  to  that.  They  would  see  that  the  soli- 
darity of  labour  must  mean  the  solidarity  of  skill, 
of  capacity,  of  character,  and  of  service,  and  in 
the  long  run  men  will  refuse  to  bear  the  burdens 
that  are  put  upon  them  by  the  mistakes  of  their 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYEES        161 

associates.  The  first  duty,  it  seems  to  me,  of  the 
labour  unions  is  to  take  themselves  seriously  as 
an  organ  of  discipline. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  work  out  the  details  of  such 
a  classification,  but  content  myself  with  laying 
down  what  seems  to  me  a  sound  principle  of 
action. 

The  application  of  this  principle  would  pre- 
serve the  solidarity  of  action  for  which  the  union 
stands,  and  which  is,  without  question,  essential  to 
the  improvement  of  labour  conditions,  and  at  the 
same  time  it  would  secure  that  elasticity  in  the 
supply  of  labour  which  is  of  the  utmost  conse- 
quence to  the  success  of  production.  One  of  my 
correspondents  speaks  of  wishing  to  bind  their 
workmen  to  their  own  establishment  by  the  ties  of 
mutual  interest  through  fair  and  liberal  treat- 
ment, and  by  extending  the  old-fashioned  induce- 
ments for  skill,  industry,  and  faithfulness.  The 
employer  wishes  to  make  individual  concessions  to 
the  most  skilful  and  faithful  employees.  It  is 
certain  that  in  reality  the  workingmen  are  just  as 
much  interested  in  the  skill  and  capacity  of  labour 
as  the  employers  can  possibly  be.  The  wage  fund 
comes  out  of  the  result  of  production.  The  larger 
the  production,  the  easier  it  is  to  secure  an  advance 


163     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

in  wages.  If  special  service  may  secure  special 
reward,  the  stimulus  for  character  and  conduct  is 
provided.  In  England  I  was  given  the  details  of 
a  contract  for  building  where  the  contractor 
brought  over  American  mechanics.  The  Amer- 
ican mechanics  did  not  work  long  hours,  but  they 
did  faithful  work  during  the  hours  when  they  were 
supposed  to  be  employed.  The  result  was  the 
building  was  constructed  with  such  rapidity  as  to 
astonish  Englishmen,  where  the  building  trades 
had  established  a  standard  day's  work  which  no 
member  of  the  union  was  supposed  to  surpass.  It 
is  not  an  edifying  spectacle  to  see  a  workman 
considering  whether  he  is  doing  too  much.  He 
should  only  be  careful  not  to  do  too  little,  so  as 
to  preserve  his  own  self-respect,  as  well  as  to 
secure  the  respect  of  his  employer.  The  doctrine 
of  restricted  output  is  unsound  economically. 
There  is  no  danger  in  the  present  generation  of  so 
much  being  accomplished  that  it  will  be  a  disaster 
to  those  who  do  the  work.  There  is  no  need  of 
restricting  the  day's  work  in  the  building  trade 
until  there  are  too  many  houses,  and  that  will  not 
be  until  an  adequate  roof  is  placed  over  every 
man,  woman,  and  child.  When  that  is  accom- 
plished, let  us  hope  that  we  shall  be  able  to  turn 


DEMANDS    OF   EMPLOYEES       163 

the  attention  of  the  building  trades  to  structures 
for  the  public  welfare. 

'Not  is  it  an  edifying  spectacle  to  see  the  day's 
work  so  carefully  measured  that  a  man  will  drop 
his  hammer  when  the  clock  strikes,  in  the  midst  of 
driving  a  nail,  or  leave  a  board  only  half  sawed. 
These  things  are  not  in  the  interest  of  labour  at 
all.  The  same  principle  holds  with  regard  to  the 
effort  to  limit  the  number  of  men  engaged  in 
gainful  occupations.  It  applies  to  the  doctrine  of 
restriction  of  immigration  in  the  interest  of  the 
workingmen  who  are  already  here.  I  am  in  con- 
siderable doubt  even  as  to  an  educational  qualifica- 
tion for  immigration.  The  main  point  is  that  the 
immigrant  shall  be  sound  physically,  and  have 
race  capacity  for  incorporation  in  the  homogeneous 
American  nation.  The  economical  value  of  im- 
migrants is  by  no  means  based  upon  literary 
qualifications.  Some  object  to  the  immigrant 
from  Latin  countries,  but  the  Italian  immigrants, 
who  are  low  in  the  scale  of  literary  qualifications, 
prove  successful  economically  beyond  some  other 
race  elements  in  our  population.  It  will  be  time 
to  talk  about  too  much  immigration  and  too  much 
labour  when  all  our  vacant  lands  are  tilled,  when 
there  are  no  more  new  railroads  to  construct,  no 


164     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

bridges  to  build,  no  cities  to  found,  no  ships  needed 
upon  the  seas,  and  no  willing  hands  required  to 
furnish  freight  for  the  railroads,  cargoes  for  the 
ships,  and  satisfaction  for  the  bodies  and  minds 
of  men. 

A  part  of  the  economical  confusion  into 
which  men  fall  in  considering  such  questions  as 
those  related  to  production,  is  the  implied  belief 
in  the  stationary  character  of  business  and  society. 
It  was  this  lack  of  wisdom  that  led  English  work- 
ingmen  to  join  in  riots  when  machines  took  the 
place  of  hand  labour.  The  machine  was  there 
anyway;  they  would  destroy  it.  Events  have 
proven  that  the  workingmen  were  clearly  wrong. 
The  machine  was  not  their  enemy,  but  their 
friend.  Every  added  power  of  production  has 
ministered  to  the  consciousness  of  need,  and  has 
led  to  greater  complexity  in  the  demand  for 
labour.  There  never  can  be  too  much  labour,  and 
the  labour  market  can  never  be  really  glutted. 
This  follows  because  human  wants  are  capable  of 
indefinite  expansion,  while  the  amount  of  produc- 
tion is  always  relatively  limited.  The  work  of 
hand  and  brain  can  never  keep  up  to  the  pace  set 
by  the  easy  emergence  of  new  desires  and  the 
happy  product  of  human  imagination.    A  char- 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYEES        165 

acteristic  of  the  last  twenty-five  years  is  the  large 
number  of  new  occupations  that  have  been  thrown 
open,  and  the  new  methods  of  production.  The 
seeming  glut  of  the  market  is  not  because  too 
many  things  have  been  produced,  but  because  the 
right  things  have  not  been  produced,  and  because, 
owing  to  the  lack  of  commercial  ability,  they  have 
not  been  speedily  and  properly  distributed. 

The  doctrine  of  overproduction  will  not  bear 
a  single  moment's  close  scrutiny.  The  man  who 
has  something  to  sell  may  have  too  much  of  a 
commodity  to  secure  the  price  that  he  desires. 
There  may  be  too  much  production  of  a  par- 
ticular kind,  in  comparison  with  other  forms 
of  production.  These  inequalities  in  a  free 
labour  world,  left  to  themselves,  will  soon  be 
righted.  New  enterprises  and  new  men  will  take 
up  the  place  of  scarcity,  and  men  leaving  business 
will  drop  out  from  the  place  of  plenty,  until  the 
balance  is  restored.  It  is  impossible  in  a  finite 
world  to  so  manage  matters  that  every  individual 
business  or  work  shall  be  successful,  and  every 
individual  producer  shall  always  have  what  he  is 
really  entitled  to.  The  best  that  can  be  done  is  to 
secure  such  a  state  as  shall  bring  the  greatest  suc- 
cess to  society  as  a  whole,  and  the  least  injustice 


166     THE   INDUSTRIAL   CONFLICT 

to  any  individual.  When  n'ew  machines  are  put 
into  any  line  of  business  it  undoubtedly  brings 
discomfort,  and  often  great  hardship,  to  individ- 
uals. These  men  suffer  vicariously.  It  is  always 
for  the  good  of  society  that  production  shall  be 
made  as  cheap  and  as  plenty  as  possible.  When 
a  large  amount  of  social  sjTnpathy  is  developed, 
special  provision  will  be  made  for  men  who  tem- 
porarily suffer  by  new  methods  of  production,  but 
that  condition  of  affairs  is  yet  to  come;  but  the 
effort  to  limit  production  in  the  interests  of  labour 
that  labour  may  have  more  to  do  to-morrow,  or  in 
the  interests  of  the  employer,  that  he  may  secure 
higher  prices  for  his  product,  is  not  in  the  category 
of  incidental  evil.  It  is  radically  wrong.  Monop- 
oly in  the  market  or  monopoly  in  labour  can  never 
have  more  than  a  partial  and  temporary  success, 
and  it  is  destined  to  be  the  source  of  perma- 
nent and  widespread  disaster.  Very  few  men  are 
to  be  found  who  would  say  that  they  had  all  the 
commodity  they  desire.  Those  who  are  the  richest 
and  best  placed  can  usually  quicken  some  new  de- 
sire. The  only  way  to  satisfy  opulent  desires  is 
by  abundant  human  production. 

The  employers  want  loyalty  and  interest  in  the 
business.     They  think  that  the  employment  which 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYEES        167 

furnishes  support  for  the  workingman,  food  and 
shelter  for  his  family,  ought  to  be  an  object,  not 
of  hate,  but  of  affection.  When  right  relations 
are  established  between  employer  and  employed, 
interest  and  loyalty  should  follow.  Workmen  in 
the  business  should  be  as  anxious  for  the  success 
of  that  business  as  any  university  is  for  the  success 
of  its  football  team.  They  should  be  ready  to 
cheer  on  the  fainting,  and  as  tenderly  to  care  for 
the  wounded  in  the  industrial  scrimmage.  This 
loyalty  and  interest  can  be  had  when  the  employers 
recognise  the  proper  demands  of  the  workingmen 
and  are  ready  to  treat  labour  as  an  element  of 
importance  in  the  business. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  state  the  principle  upon 
which  the  relative  importance  of  labour  and  capital 
in  any  business  depends.  Where  the  machinery 
is  cheap  and  the  number  of  labourers  required  is 
large,  labour  is  more  important;  when  the  ma- 
chinery is  expensive  and  the  number  of  labourers 
required  is  small,  capital  is  the  more  important 
element.  In  other  words,  the  relative  importance 
of  the  two  factors  will  depend  upon  the  relation 
between  interest  and  wages,  as  measured  by  the 
normal  value  of  money,  and  the  normal  value  of 
labour  in  the  markets  of  the  world. 


168     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

The  new  attitude  of  labour  asserts  the  right  to 
be  considered  as  a  partner  in  the  conduct  of  the 
business.  Partnership  can  only  be  carried  on  by 
conference,  concession,  and  adjustment,  and  in  case 
of  difficulty  which  the  parties  cannot  settle,  arbi- 
tration. But  it  is  intolerable  to  suppose  that  where 
there  is  a  partnership  between  superintendence  and 
labour,  the  superintendent  must  bear  the  burdens 
and  carry  the  enterprise  to  success,  while  labour 
assumes  a  piratical  attitude  and  says,  "  I  will  do  as 
little  work  as  possible,  and  loot  the  concern  of  all 
its  profits  in  the  name  of  wages."  Every  man  who 
is  willing  to  share  the  fortunes  of  the  business  by 
being  upon  its  payroll,  ought  to  feel  bound  in 
honour  to  exert  himself  by  the  quality  of  his  work 
and  by  the  extent  of  his  influence  to  make  that 
business  a  success.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  employer 
to  pay  as  large  wages  as  the  results  of  the  business 
will  allow,  after  a  fair  return  for  interest  and 
superintendence.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally 
the  duty  of  labour  to  make  the  paying  of  wages  as 
light  a  burden  as  possible,  by  doing  everything 
that  lies  in  its  power  to  make  the  business  suc- 
cessful. 

Once  again  it  needs  to  be  stated  at  this  point, 
the  interest  of  the  employer  and  the  employed  can 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYERS        169 

be  reconciled.  Some  years  ago  it  was  shown  by  an 
investigation  of  the  textile  factories  in  America, 
England,  and  Germany  that  while  America  paid 
the  highest  wages,  England  the  next,  and  Germany 
the  lowest,  the  labour  cost  per  yard  was  lowest  in 
America,  second  in  England,  and  highest  in  Ger- 
many. In  other  words,  the  factories  which  paid 
the  highest  wages  had  the  best  results.  Up  to  a 
certain  point  this  will  always  be  true,  because 
higher  wages  mean  a  higher  standard  of  living; 
that  is,  better  food,  better  clothing,  better  homes, 
better  care  in  sickness,  and  these  mean  that  the 
labourer  becomes  a  better  man.  It  is  to  the  in- 
terest of  the  employer  every  way  to  see  that  the 
people  who  are  associated  with  him  have  brought 
to  bear  upon  them  every  influence  to  make  them 
the  best  people  possible.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
the  duty  of  wage  earners,  both  by  the  measure  of 
the  actual  day's  work  and  by  that  more  indefinable 
spirit  of  faithfulness,  to  make  the  superintendent 
feel  that  they  are  entirely  dependable,  that  they 
are  his  friends,  and  that  though  other  men  fail 
him,  his  own  associates  will  prove  his  support. 

The  press  that  represents  the  labour  movement 
is  frequently  indicted  for  the  inflammatory  char- 
acter of  its  articles.     They  represent  every  man 


170     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

who  has  money  as  being  a  constitutional  oppres- 
sor. They  decline  to  see  in  success  anything  but 
the  triumph  of  cunning  and  greed.  They  sneer 
at  the  churches,  and  all  the  institutions  which  con- 
serve the  moral  life  of  the  community.  There  is 
too  much  truth  in  these  statements.  It  sometimes 
seems  a  competition  in  lurid  rhetoric  rather  than 
any  full  and  honest  discussion.  If  the  evil  were 
confined  to  the  use  of  the  simile  of  war  when  war 
really  does  exist,  the  complaint  would  not  have  suf- 
ficient foundation;  unfortunately  the  evil  goes  far 
beyond  the  use  of  that  figure  of  speech.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  periodicals  which  represent  various 
associations  of  employers  and  organisations  of 
capital  are  no  less  to  be  blamed  for  their  in- 
cendiary language.  I  have  before  me  a  copy  of 
the  Square  Deal,  a  monthly  published  by  the 
Citizens'  Industrial  Association  of  America,  for 
October,  1906,  In  its  editorial  columns  it  has 
an  article  upon  the  "  Labour  Trust  Anarchist,"  in 
which  it  deliberately  falsifies  an  address  by  Mr. 
Bonaparte,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  given  at  Chau- 
tauqua. The  secretary  is  represented  as  advocat- 
ing the  passing  of  laws  inflicting  the  death  penalty 
on  anarchists  who  take  life,  and  whipping  and 
imprisonment  for  less  serious  offences.     It  then 


DEMANDS    OF    EMPLOYERS        171 

goes  on  to  say :  "  Mr.  Gompers  is  an  anarchist, 
and  so  are  many  of  his  fellows.  He  is  a  self-con- 
fessed anarchist,"  and  the  article  strongly  inti- 
mates that  he  is  the  man  who  ought  to  be  publicly 
whipped  and  imprisoned,  closing  with  these  words : 
"  If  Mr.  Gompers'  words  are  not  the  utterances 
of  a  true  anarchist,  then  there  are  no  anarchists; 
they  are  more;  they  are  treasonable."  This  is  a 
sample  of  the  kind  of  literature  which  it  is  sup- 
posed will  be  effective  in  awakening  the  conscience 
of  the  American  people  to  overthrow  the  labour 
trust.  Much  may  be  forgiven  to  the  irresponsi- 
ble man  of  little  education  whose  passions  are 
easily  inflamed,  but  a  company  of  men  who  are 
supposed  to  represent  not  alone  the  business  inter- 
ests, but  the  highest  social  position  and  culture, 
must  be  judged  in  quite  another  way.  Noblesse 
oblige! 

This  whole  discussion  must  move  from  the  do- 
main of  heat  and  smoke  out  into  the  quiet  coun- 
try of  light  and  wisdom.  Labour  unions  must 
cease  to  intimidate  those  who  differ  from  them 
upon  important  questions,  but  capitalists  must 
cease  their  threats  and  their  reprisals,  their  quiet 
social  and  business  boycotts,  which  are  among  the 
most  offensive  incidents  of  our  present  social  life. 


VIII 
THEEE  PARTIES  IN  INTEREST 

Employers,  Employed,  Public — The  Eco- 
nomic Battle — The  Common  Interest  in  Produc- 
tion— Fallacy  of  Limited  Production — Joy  and 
Integrity — The  Rich  and  Flexible  World, 

There  are  three  parties  to  the  problem  of  labour, 
and  any  solution  that  is  to  be  either  wise  or  satis- 
factory must  consider  the  interests  of  the  three. 
The  parties  are  the  employer,  the  employed,  and 
the  public. 

The  most  conspicuous  difficulty  in  coming  to 
any  agreement  is  in  securing  the  recognition  on  all 
sides  of  the  real  relation  of  each  of  these  parties. 
The  employer  cannot  get  along  without  labourers. 
He  may  have  the  best  machinery,  the  finest  plant, 
abundant  raw  material,  and  waiting  markets,  but 
if  there  are  no  willing  hands  to  help  him,  not  a 
wheel  will  turn,  the  raw  material  will  perish  in 
waiting,  and  the  public  will  suffer  from  a  sense 
of  need.  The  workingmen  need  the  employer. 
They  may  have  good  health,  abundant  skill,  and  a 
desire  to  toil,  but  if  there  are  no  tools  and  no  raw 

172 


THREE    PARTIES    IN    INTEREST    173 

material,  there  can  be  no  emplojonent.  Some- 
where and  somehow  there  must  be  secured  a  supply 
of  stored-up  labour.  Labour  must  have  been  suc- 
cessful beyond  the  point  of  the  daily  needs  in  order 
that  surplus  wealth  may  become  capital. 

But  though  employer  and  employed  come  to  an 
understanding  and  the  best  machinery  and  the  best 
men  turn  out  the  best  product,  the  wheels  must 
soon  cease  to  hum  and  the  tools  to  do  their  work 
if  there  is  no  waiting  public  ready  to  consume  the 
finished  product.  And  the  public  has  a  real  right 
to  express  itself  upon  any  controversies  between 
employer  and  workingmen  which  make  the  prod- 
uct scarce  or  dear  that  the  public  desires  to  use. 

A  national  labour  leader  in  a  recent  address  ex- 
pressed himself  thus :  "  I  think  that  the  man  who 
builds  a  house  ought  to  live  in  it,  and  the  one  who 
weaves  a  beautiful  garment  ought  to  wear  the  gar- 
ment." This  doctrine,  without  modification  or  ex- 
planation, was  stated  as  the  essence  of  the  whole 
question.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  more 
economic  falsehood  could  scarcely  have  been  put  in 
the  same  limited  space.  If  the  house  or  the  gar- 
ment constituted  the  sole  want  of  the  worker,  and 
he  owned  the  raw  material,  no  one  could  question 
the  soundness  of  the  utterance,  but  since  the  man 


174     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

who  builds  a  house  needs  food  and  drink,  clothing 
and  books,  and  all  the  appliances  of  civilised  life, 
without  which  the  house  is  of  no  value  at  all,  he 
must  build  not  one  house  but  several  houses  in 
order  to  be  entitled  to  one  of  his  own.  In  like 
manner,  the  weaver  of  the  beautiful  garment  can 
only  have  other  needs  supplied  which  are  more 
imperative,  when  he  is  willing  to  part  with  the 
beautiful  garment  in  barter  to  satisfy  the  other 
wants. 

There  is  a  point  of  view  from  which  it  would 
seem  as  if  the  interests  of  the  three  parties  are 
always  at  war.  The  employer  wishes  the  highest 
price  for  his  product ;  he  wishes  to  pay  the  smallest 
wages,  and  to  buy  his  raw  material  at  the  lowest 
price.  The  labourer  wishes  the  shortest  and  easiest 
da/s  work  with  the  highest  wages.  The  public 
wishes  to  buy  the  best  goods  at  the  lowest  prices. 
Now,  if  the  economic  emphasis  is  placed  upon  any 
one  of  these  apparently  conflicting  interests,  no 
solution  can  be  reached.  It  is  necessary  to  resolve 
these  differences  in  a  higher  unity,  if  such  a  thing 
can  be  found.  The  student  must,  therefore,  seek 
to  find  some  point  of  view  from  which  the  interests 
of  the  three  parties  may  be  seen  to  be  identical. 
The  employer  desires  large  products;  manifestly 


THREE    PARTIES    IX    IXTEREST    175 

the  only  -way  that  he  can  secure  large  products  is 
by  successful  production.  He  must  economise  at 
every  point,  make  every  stroke  of  work  count.  His 
plant  must  be  located  at  such  a  place  that  he  can 
secure  the  raw  material  as  cheaply  as  possible.  He 
must  also  be  able  to  find  his  market  near  his  fac- 
tory. If  the  market  be  far,  the  raw  material  must 
certainly  be  near.  If  the  raw  material  be  far,  he 
must  find  his  compensation  in  near  and  eager 
markets.  Successful  production  is  the  source  of 
wealth.  The  labourer  wishes  higher  wages;  he 
cannot  have  higher  wages  than  the  business  can 
afford.  In  order  to  secure  higher  wages  he  must 
have  good  machinery,  wise  superintendence,  and  he 
must  be  himself  a  willing  and  efficient  worker. 
All  the  need  of  raw  material  and  market  which  be- 
longs to  the  employer  belongs  also  to  him.  As 
there  can  be  no  large  profits  without  successful 
production,  so  there  can  be  permanently  no  large 
wages  without  successful  production.  The  first 
and  greatest  interest  of  every  workingman  is  to 
make  the  business  in  which  he  is  engaged  as  suc- 
cessful as  it  is  possible  to  make  it.  The  public 
wants  its  goods  at  the  cheapest  prices,  but  goods 
that  are  scarce  and  expensive  in  the  making  must 
be  expensive  to  the  public.    At  the  last  there  can 


176      THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

be  no  reduction  in  prices  without  increased  effi- 
ciency in  production.  It  seems  plain  that  there 
is  a  common  unity  for  these  three  interests.  That 
unity  is  found  in  the  successful  labour  which  is 
able  alone  to  furnish  large  products,  high  wages, 
and  cheap  goods.  The  division  of  the  spoils  must 
be  a  cause  of  debate,  and  questions  of  profits,  wages, 
and  prices  must  be  adjusted  by  agreement  and  by 
the  working  of  those  laws  upon  which  the  whole 
structure  of  society  rests ;  but  there  can  be  no  con- 
flict over  spoils  which  do  not  exist,  and  no  one  of 
the  parties  can  win  at  any  point  in  the  conflict 
until  his  successful  labour  has  secured  its  abundant 
reward. 

This  indicates  very  clearly  the  nature  of  the 
labour  battle.  It  is  not  a  question  of  principles 
or  of  methods,  but  it  is  a  question  of  the  division  of 
the  spoils.  The  employer  and  employed  have  a 
mutual  interest  in  making  the  profits  as  large  as 
possible.  It  is  only  when  the  profits  are  to  be 
divided  that  the  class  interest  becomes  evident. 
One  other  matter  must  be  set  forth  in  order  to  put 
before  us  all  the  elements  of  the  problem ;  that  is, 
to  clear  up  the  incoherence  of  thought  with  ref- 
erence to  the  nature  of  production.  Whatever 
labour  satisfies   a  normal  human  want  is  produc- 


THEEE    PARTIES    IN    INTEREST    177 

tion,  and  whatever  services  are  required  in  the  sat- 
isfaction of  that  Vi^ant,  from  the  first  use  of  the  raw 
material  until  the  finished  product  is  placed  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  are  to  use  it,  is  a  part  of  the 
labour  production.  The  production  of  the  most 
commonplace  articles  of  use  is  a  very  complicated 
affair.  It  is  not  alone  the  cooper  who  has  made 
the  water  pail,  for  it  took  a  hundred  years  for  the 
raw  material  to  grow  in  the  forest.  Then  those 
who  opened  the  iron  mine  to  get  material  for  the 
hoops,  and  those  who  built  the  sawmill,  and  those 
who  constructed  the  railways  that  brought  the  raw 
material  and  took  away  the  product,  and  those  who 
managed  the  banks  that  furnished  credit,  the  dray- 
man upon  the  street,  the  clerk  in  the  store,  and  the 
young  man  who  sets  the  water  pail  down  in  some- 
one's kitchen  where  it  has  been  ordered,  have  each 
some  part  in  the  task  of  producing  the  water  pail, 
and  must  each  be  paid  for  his  services.  It  is  quite 
evident  that  there  can  be  no  exact  mathematical 
calculation  for  deciding  just  what  each  one's  share 
of  the  product  is.  It  would  cost  more  to  figure  out 
by  an  elaborate  system  of  bookkeeping  each  one  of 
the  elements  of  cost  involved  than  the  whole  trans- 
action could  pay  for.  So  it  will  always  happen 
that  the  particular  elements  in  production  cannot 


178      THE    IXDUSTPtlAL    COXFLICT 

be  specifically  recognised  and  rewarded  in  partic- 
ular transactions.  Rough  and  substantial  justice 
is  the  best  that  anyone  can  hope  for.  On  division 
of  the  profits  the  parties  may  always  differ,  but  the 
thing  upon  which  they  cannot  be  allowed  to  differ 
is  in  the  production  of  profits.  All  unnecessary 
labour  must  be  eliminated  to  reduce  the  cost,  and 
the  labour  thus  set  free  can  be  employed  elsewhere. 
This  is  the  key  to  the  labour  problem.  The  unity 
of  interests  for  all  parties  is  in  the  securing  the 
largest  production  possible,  and  the  labour  conflict 
is  found  alone  in  the  distribution  to  each  producer 
of  his  fair  share  of  the  result. 

It  must  be  noted,  therefore,  that  if  this  state- 
ment of  fact  is  correct,  the  combination  of  employ- 
ers that  would  limit  the  output  of  any  special  line 
of  product  in  the  interests  of  a  scarcity  which  will 
secure  higher  prices,  is  acting,  not  normally,  but 
artificially.  Such  a  combination  is  not  only  an 
enemy  of  the  general  public,  but  it  is  a  form 
of  economic  suicide.  Again,  any  organisation  of 
workingmen  that  deliberately  decides  to  be  less 
efficient  in  labour  than  they  might  be,  is  not  alone 
at  war  with  the  interests  of  the  business  of  which 
they  form  a  part,  but  is  at  war  with  the  interests 
of  the  workingman  himself.     There  is  no  doubt 


THREE    PARTIES    IN    INTEREST    179 

that  such  combinations  of  manufacturers  or  of 
workingmen  may  temporarily  secure  some  advan- 
tage, but  in  the  long  run  the  advantage  will  turn  to 
disaster.  It  is  a  game  that  at  last  all  can  play  at. 
If,  therefore,  one  line  of  production  is  limited  in 
order  to  make  profits  for  either  capital  or  labour, 
and  it  seems  successful,  another  line  of  business 
will  imitate  the  perilous  example,  then  another,  and 
then  another,  until  the  whole  organisation  of  the 
industrial  world  will  be  consumed  with  the  idea  to 
secure  scarcity  in  order  to  secure  plenty.  Now 
scarcity  is  the  enemy  of  plenty,  and  will  at  last 
secure  its  revenges.  The  principle  upon  which  a 
limited  production  or  a  limited  amount  of  labour 
is  successful  is  precisely  the  same  principle  on 
which  the  thief  is  successful;  if  he  is  not  caught, 
he  enjoys  something  which  he  has  not  earned. 
Only  a  little  earnest  thought  upon  the  real  nature 
of  labour  and  its  rewards  is  necessary  to  see  the 
utter  fallacy  of  limited  production.  Suppose  the 
farmers  should  band  together  and  say,  "  Hence- 
forth we  will  only  raise  eight  bushels  of  wheat  to 
the  acre,  and  we  will  adopt  methods  of  agriculture 
that  will  be  certain  to  keep  the  crops  down  to  that 
point;  by  so  doing  we  shall  have  high  prices  for 
wheat."     A   few  years'  higher  prices  for  wheat 


180     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

might  ensue,  but  the  final  result  would  be  that 
starving  workingmen,  denied  bread  at  normal 
prices,  would  be  unable  to  furnish  the  farmer  either 
the  machinery  or  the  clothes  or  the  houses  of  which 
he  would  stand  in  need,  and  if  the  price  of  flour 
goes  up  permanently,  the  price  of  meat  goes  up  also, 
and  with  these,  increased  prices  of  hats  and  shoes 
must  inevitably  follow.  Eeal  wealth  is  the  result 
of  real  production.  All  else  is  accidental,  is 
jugglery,  and  sometimes  is  nothing  better  than 
stealing.  Prosperity  cannot  be  built  upon  acci- 
dents, success  cannot  come  by  sorcery,  and  plenty 
is  not  a  gift  of  thieves. 

It  must  be  noted,  also,  that  each  one  of  these 
three  classes  is  not  fixed,  but  is  constantly  chang- 
ing. Every  workingman  is  also  an  employer.  He 
is  an  employer  of  labour  for  the  production  of 
every  commodity  which  he  uses  except  those  articles 
which  are  made  by  his  own  hands.  A  carpenter 
employs  the  farmer,  the  shoemaker,  the  tailor. 
The  banker  is  an  employer  of  labour  no  less  than 
the  manufacturer,  though  he  may  not  superintend 
the  labourer  that  works  for  him.  Because,  there- 
fore, there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  rigid  division 
between  these  three  classes,  there  can  be  no  perma- 
nent separation  of  their  interests.    Economic  tricks 


THEEE    PAETIES    IN"    INTEREST    181 

may  produce  short-sighted  successes  at  the  expense 
of  the  rest  of  the  communit}',  but  at  last  only  those 
successes  in  which  the  entire  community  can  have 
a  chance  of  participation  will  be  found  to  be  per- 
manent. There  is  a  larger  social  solidarity  in  fact 
than  there  is  in  the  human  consciousness.  This  is 
one  of  the  conquests  we  are  slowly  making.  There 
is  need  of  a  new  sense  of  human  fellowship,  based 
not  merely  upon  sentiment,  but  recognised  as  the 
true  interpretation  of  all  that  is  real  in  human  life. 
It  will  be  easy  for  those  who  have  achieved  this 
mental  attitude  to  understand  that  it  is  good  for 
each  member  of  the  community  to  have  every  other 
member  of  the  community  successful,  and  this  fact 
runs  through  the  whole  range  of  business.  The 
defeat  of  any  considerable  part  of  a  community  is 
a  limitation  upon  the  markets  of  those  who  are  suc- 
cessful. Those  who  do  not  produce  cannot  barter. 
Those  who  do  not  produce  enough  to  satisfy  the 
primary  wants  must  be  supported  by  all  the  rest. 
Individual  success  can  only  be  great  where  the  in- 
dividual partakes  of  the  success  of  the  community. 
Concede  to  great  captains  of  industry  all  the  ability 
which  they  think  they  have;  they  can  be  neither 
rich  nor  great  except  in  a  wealth-producing  com- 
munity.   Mr.  Eockefeller  would  have  had  no  scope 


183     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

for  his  genius  in  Syria,  and  Mr.  Harriman  would 
have  found  unexpected  obstacles  if  his  sphere  of 
operations  had  happened  to  be  in  Turkey.  These 
men  may  have  made  too  much.  That  is  quite 
another  part  of  the  subject,  but  the  possibility  of 
any  success  for  any  man  is,  at  the  last,  the  willing- 
ness to  share  that  success  with  his  neighbour. 

Successful  labour  is  not  a  thing  of  the  hands  or 
of  the  mind  alone.  There  are  other  essential  ele- 
ments. A  sullen  crew  of  workmen,  with  a  brute 
for  a  superintendent,  cannot  accomplish  the  tasks 
that  the  same  men  are  capable  of  when  led  by  a 
cheery  and  courageous  man  whose  power  awakens 
confidence  and  whose  good  nature  is  a  contagion. 
The  man  who  makes  his  employees  feel  that  the 
work  upon  which  they  are  engaged  is  his  business, 
and  that  their  interests  are  limited  to  the  day's 
wage  for  the  day's  work,  cannot  at  the  last  have 
such  results  as  the  man  who  inspires  his  employees 
with  a  sense  of  comradeship  and  makes  them  feel 
that  it  is  their  business  as  well  as  his.  For  its 
economic  value  we  need  to  recover  the  Joy  of 
labour.  Integrity  upon  the  part  of  the  employer 
is  a  source  of  eflBciency  upon  the  part  of  the  work- 
ingman.  If  the  carpenter  and  the  mason  and  the 
plumber  know  that  the  contractor  would  scorn  to 


THREE    PARTIES    IN    INTEREST     183 

add  to  his  profits  by  a  concealed  crime  in  poor  con- 
struction, they  also  will  be  stimulated  to  a  sense 
of  honour  in  their  individual  work.  If  they  see 
him  willing  to  take  an  advantage  gained  by  being 
dishonest,  they  will  be  ready  to  shirk  a  reasonable 
task  by  becoming  contemptible.  Truth  in  the  in- 
ward parts  is  not  alone  an  asset  in  character ;  it  is 
an  asset  in  labour.  Society,  by  the  most  stringent 
laws  and  the  most  careful  inspection,  is  bound  to 
protect  the  individual  against  every  form  of  eco- 
nomic falsehood.  The  grocer  shall  not  be  allowed 
to  lie  about  his  goods,  nor  the  dry  goods  merchant 
about  his  goods.  We  must  come  back  to  the  old- 
fashioned  faith  in  the  old-fashioned  righteousness, 
for  righteousness  is  not  a  thing  of  books  and 
creeds ;  it  is  a  thing  of  houses  and  stores  and  shops 
and  factories.  It  is  a  gospel  written  not  alone  in 
forms  of  worship  and  words  of  faith,  but  it  is  a 
gospel  written  in  the  economic  interests  of  man- 
kind. 

A  further  fallacy  which  underlies  much  of  the 
debate  on  questions  of  work  and  wages  is  to  be 
charged  to  the  utterly  false  view  of  the  nature  of 
human  society.  Each  man  thinks  he  must  secure 
his  share  of  what  has  already  been  produced  or 
what  may  be  produced  under  present  conditions  of 


184     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

industrial  organisation.  This  view  must  be  ex- 
changed for  the  dynamic  view  of  social  and  indus- 
trial life.  We  are  not  living  in  a  settled  order. 
There  has  never  been  a  settled  order  in  any  age. 
We  are  on  the  march.  This  old  earth  of  ours  has 
been  yielding  new  surprises  in  the  discovery  of 
news  forms  of  matter  and  new  applications  of 
force.  The  wealth  that  we  have  already  taken 
possession  of  is  probably  only  a  tithe  of  the  wealth 
yet  to  be  discovered.  The  great  improvements  in 
processes  of  labour  are  prophetic  of  still  mightier 
changes.  We  are  living  in  a  world  that  is  capable 
of  untold  industrial  expansion.  What  we  need  is  a 
little  more  imagination.  The  food  for  the  imagi- 
nation can  be  easily  supplied  by  a  contemplation 
of  history.  The  rise  of  the  workingman  would 
never  have  been  possible  in  spite  of  all  his  labour 
unions,  and  all  his  efforts,  if  it  had  not  been  funda- 
mentally based  upon  vast  social  and  economic  prog- 
ress. The  problems  of  human  life  are,  at  the 
last,  one  problem.  'No  solution  can  be  reached  for 
the  industrial  world  which  is  not  reached  also  for 
every  other  human  interest.  The  city  of  God 
lieth  four  square.  It  is  only  by  the  harmonious 
development  of  himian  powers  and  by  the  full  em- 
ployment of  all  possible  human  activities    that 


THREE    PARTIES    IN    INTEREST    185 

man  may  at  last  grow  rich,  and  life  become  sweet 
and  gracious;  and  at  this  task  of  conquering  the 
world  and  enricliing  the  social  order,  every  man, 
whatever  his  lot  and  place,  must  work.  He  is  a 
member  of  a  great  organic  life;  in  its  victory  he 
shares;  in  its  defeat  he  is  doomed.  With  imagi- 
nation kindled,  affection  awakened,  and  intelligence 
illumined,  there  will  be  born  vast  and  common 
ambitions  in  which  all  men  may  share. 


IX 

THE  IMPEOVED  MAN 

Social  and  Industrial  Education — New  In- 
dustrial Ventures — Increase  of  Wages  as  Capi- 
tal— Economic  Value  of  Virtues — Resources 
of  Religion. 

EoE  higher  eflBciency  the  first  need  is  an  improved 
man.  The  world  has  been  such  a  splendid  place 
to  live  in  that  economical  and  mechanical  oppor- 
tunities have  alwa3^s  been  unfolded  just  as  soon  as 
men  have  grown  to  them.  In  fact,  that  fine  prod- 
uct of  social  evolution,  the  self-conscious  and  self- 
governed  man,  is  precisely  the  most  difficult  to 
obtain.  We  can  discover  new  minerals  easier  than 
we  can  implant  new  virtues;  we  can  make  new 
machines  with  less  effort  than  we  can  enthrone 
noble  motives.  Social  and  economic  difficulties 
will  all  vanish  before  the  advancing  steps  of  the 
kingly  man. 

Now,  the  most  primary  and  the  most  efficient 
agent  in  developing  the  new  man  is  found  in  the 
social  forces  of  education.  The  function  of  edu- 
cation has  very  largely  been  taken  over  by  the 

186 


THE    IMPROVED    MAN  187 

state,  and  in  this  respect  no  doubt  society  has  done 
well,  for  the  state  is  the  most  authoritative  and  the 
noblest  expression  of  social  power.  The  trouble 
with  our  education  is  that  we  do  not  thus  far  take 
its  task  seriously.  This  matter  of  education  is 
the  necessary  completion  of  the  war  against  child 
labour.  It  is  idle  to  release  the  child  from  the 
drudgery  of  the  factory  to  let  loose  upon  him  the 
savagery  of  the  street.  Each  generation,  splendidly 
free  from  the  faults  of  the  generation  gone  before, 
born  plastic  and  as  fresh  from  the  hand  of  God 
as  the  first  Adam,  has  a  right  to  the  very  best  that 
society  can  do.  Education  must  have  a  thoroughly 
useful  foundation.  Here  the  art  of  life  must  be 
fully  explained.  It  is  not  enough  to  quicken  the 
memory  and  train  the  judgment;  it  is  required 
that  the  new  child  life  should  be  related  to  every- 
thing that  is  best  in  the  corporate  life.  It  is  the 
view  of  education  as  the  process  of  moulding  the 
child  so  that  its  best  development  may  be  reached 
and  its  greatest  social  efficiency  be  secured,  that 
furnishes  the  basis  for  a  practical  adjustment. 
The  girls  must  be  taught  how  to  sew  and  cook, 
how  to  buy  and  use,  and  how  to  become  mistress 
of  the  whole  range  of  domestic  life.  This  educa- 
tion must  be  thorough,  and  it  must  be  universal. 


188     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

The  state  must  allow  no  child  to  escape  from  its 
benevolent  despotism.  The  boy  must  be  taught  to 
use  hand  and  eye,  and  to  express  himself  in  the 
world's  work,  as  well  as  to  learn  the  great  thoughts 
of  the  great  dead.  Industrial  training  must  bulk 
larger  in  the  plans  of  the  state.  It  may  not  be 
either  proper  or  necessary  that  crafts  of  any  par- 
ticular kind  should  be  taught  in  schools,  but  it  is 
necessary  that  the  boy  should  be  developed  along 
the  line  of  craftsmanship.  This  is  the  more  neces- 
sary on  account  of  the  nature  of  the  modern  work- 
shop. The  efficiency  of  industries  has  come 
through  division  of  labour  and  the  specialisation  of 
particular  occupations.  Efficient  work  is  now  very 
often  confined  to  very  narrow  limits.  These  limits 
lead  to  no  general  skill,  nor  do  they  give  any  large 
cultural  results  to  the  workmen.  There  is  no  pres- 
sure upon  him  for  adaptation,  and  there  is  no 
opportunity  for  initiative.  A  man  may  run  a 
machine  that  drills  holes  or  cuts  wire  for  forty 
years  and  be  no  further  developed  than  he  was  when 
he  began  the  process.  To  avoid  and  overcome  the 
limitations  of  the  machine  is  one  of  the  necessities 
of  modern  life.  This  can  only  be  done  by  a 
breadth  of  elementary  training  that  will  enable  a 
craftsman  to  pass  easily  from  one  occupation  to 


THE    IMPEOVED    MAN  189 

the  other  should  circumstances  require.  But  that 
is  not  enough.  The  best  things  of  life  are  not  ex- 
pensive. What  they  require  is  good  taste  and  the 
development  of  mind  and  heart.  The  love  and  ap- 
preciation of  beauty  cannot  be  bought  for  gold  or 
treasure,  but  it  may  be  had  on  its  ovm  terms  by 
those  in  the  humblest  walks  in  life.  While  I 
would  have  an  industrial  foundation  underneath 
education,  that  must  by  no  means  be  its  superstruc- 
ture. Upon  the  material  foundation  there  must 
be  erected  that  nobler  edifice  which  shall  minister 
to  the  higher  mental  and  spiritual  needs  of  the 
man,  and  this  kind  of  education  should  be  made 
the  common  inheritance  of  every  child  in  the  re- 
public. With  a  view  of  education  at  once  so  prac- 
tical and  so  ideal,  we  shall  develop  a  race  which 
will  be  able  to  compete  in  the  workshops  and 
markets  of  the  world  for  its  full  share  of  the  in- 
dustrial prizes,  but  at  the  same  time  it  will  develop 
a  citizenship  that  will  appreciate  not  alone  the 
benefits  of  free  institutions,  though  these  are  of 
value,  but  even  more,  the  benefits  of  noble  institu- 
tions, for  it  must  be  seen  at  last  that  the  final  test 
of  organised  society  is  in  its  ministry  to  tlie  ful- 
ness of  possible  human  life. 

I  shall  be  told  that  the  development  of  a  new  race 


190     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

is  a  social  process  so  complex  and  requiring  so  much 
time,  so  much  patience,  and  involving  so  much  ex- 
pense that  it  does  not  meet  the  demands  of  this 
insistent  problem.  What  is  wanted  is  some  ade- 
quate cure  for  all  our  industrial  maladies,  that  can 
be  applied  at  once  with  satisfactory  results  to  all 
parties.  Neither  side  to  the  conflict  has  shown  in 
the  letters  the  slightest  appreciation  of  the  need  of 
a  better  and  larger  man,  or  any  conception  of  the 
agencies  that  must  conspire  to  produce  him.  The 
interpretation  of  history  is  found  in  the  measure 
of  social  capacity,  which  has  been  applied  in  the 
world's  work  from  generation  to  generation.  The 
growth  of  social  capacity  changed  hordes  into 
tribes,  and  tribes  into  nations.  It  bound  social 
groups  together  by  a  larger  and  yet  larger  number 
of  social  interests,  and  as  these  groups  became  more 
complex  they  became  at  the  same  time  more  stable 
and  capable  of  larger  enterprises  covering  wider 
areas.  Social  capacity  has  been  a  thing  in  which 
the  multitudes  have  only  partly  shared.  Gifted 
individuals,  highly  organised  special  classes,  have 
been  the  organs  of  its  exercise.  So  a  Greek 
phalanx  or  a  Roman  legion  exhibited  to  ancient 
barbarians  the  soldierly  power  of  a  compact  mass 
of  men  moved  by  one  purpose.     The  new  social 


THE    IMPROVED    MAN"  191 

democracy  must  base  itself  upon  the  organising 
power  of  the  multitude  by  expansion  of  capabilities, 
by  new  definiteness,  and  wider  systems  of  interest. 
By  such  education  as  shall  bring  self-realisation 
the  democracy  must  first  win  its  power,  and  then 
it  will  be  able  to  use  it.  There  is  one  human  les- 
son written  large  in  many  ways  and  in  various 
languages.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  supremest  lesson  of 
human  experience,  namely :  New  institutions  do 
not  make  new  men,  but  new  men  always  fashion  for 
themselves  new  institutions.  Jesus  understood 
this  great  law  of  human  history,  for  when  He  pro- 
posed a  new  kingdom  of  God  among  men  He  be- 
gan to  say  unto  them,  "  Repent  ye."  Therefore, 
the  kingdom  of  God  was  reserved  for  a  new  breed 
of  men. 

Such  a  new  race  of  men  will  doubtless  be  pre- 
pared for  new  industrial  ventures  and  higher  social 
opportunities.  It  needs  to  be  said  explicitly  that 
the  great  problems  that  confront  us  are  not  ma- 
terial; they  are  found  in  the  limitations  of  human 
capacity.  I  am  by  no  means  content  with  the 
present  forms  of  industrial  organisation,  but  there 
is  only  one  way  to  improve  them,  and  that  is  to 
develop  a  better  race  of  men.  Whenever  the  work- 
in^an  becomes  tired  of  working  for  other  people, 


192     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

he  may  work  for  himself  if  he  has  the  ability  to 
do  so.  The  great  want  of  the  workingman  to-day 
is  not  less  organisation,  but  more  organisation.  It 
is  not  to  sink  back  from  labour  unions  to  weak  and 
sterile  individualism,  but  to  regard  the  labour 
unions  as  only  a  stepping-stone  to  more  powerful 
forms  of  co-operation.  Great  fortunes  are  achieved 
by  men  who  have  the  capacity  to  secure  the  earn- 
ings of  a  great  many  other  men  in  order  to  invest 
them  in  individual  enterprises.  This  is  the  func- 
tion filled  by  the  banks  and  other  organs  of  credit. 
They  gather  up  the  savings  of  the  people  and  lend 
them  to  those  who  carry  on  large  enterprises.  If 
the  people  had  sufficient  capacity,  they  would  carry 
on  their  own  enterprises  and  use  their  own  money. 
The  greatest  enterprises  are  easily  possible  to  work- 
ingmen  if  they  can  undertake  to  carry  them  on 
instead  of  finding  fault  with  present  conditions  and 
seeking  only  to  get  a  larger  share  of  present  pro- 
duction. It  is  for  them  to  say  how  soon  they  will 
reorganise  industrial  society  and  take  the  profits 
for  themselves.  You  ask  me  where  they  will  get 
capital  for  these  large  enterprises,  and  I  reply 
they  already  have  margin  enough  of  wealth  if  they 
would  only  make  it  the  foundation  of  capital. 
Mr.  James    Duncan,  National    Secretary  of    the 


THE    IMPROVED    MAN  193 

Oranite  Cutters'  Union,  declares  that  in  fifteen 
years  his  10,000  working  people  secured  a  total 
increase  in  wages  amounting  to  $33,000,000.  Now 
$33,000,000  would  bu}^  a  great  many  granite  quar- 
ries. Have  the  granite  cutters  bought  the  quarries? 
and  if  not,  why  not?  What  have  they  done  with 
the  surplus  of  wages  ?  It  is  stated  that  during  the 
month  of  September,  1906,  something  like  $100,- 
000,000  has  been  added  to  the  annual  wages  of 
the  railroad  employees  of  the  country.  What  will 
^  be  done  with  the  additional  $100,000,000  ?  It  is 
stated  that  members  of  one  craft  are  now  en- 
gaged in  giving  10  per  cent,  of  their  wages,  and 
have  been  doing  so  for  more  than  a  year,  in  order 
to  support  a  strike.  This  indicates  a  splendid  re- 
serve power,  but  suppose  the  two  million  working- 
men  who  are  affiliated  with  labour  unions  in 
America  should  each  give  10  per  cent,  of  his  wages 
for  a  year  to  a  common  fund  for  new  industrial 
enterprises  founded  by  workingmon,  managed  by 
workingmen,  and  the  profits  of  which  should 
all  go  to  workingmen?  The  result  of  such 
a  movement  in  the  course  of  twenty-five  years 
would  be  beyond  any  ordinary  mathematical 
computation.  Why  will  they  not  engage  in  these 
colossal  undertakings?     It  is  because  such  under- 


194     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

takings  require  the  largest  capacity  for  manage- 
ment, the  wisest  virtue  for  self-control,  and  a 
developed  sympathy  and  subordination  that  makes 
perfect  co-operation  possible.  What  is  done  with 
the  surplus  earnings  that  workingmen  from  time 
to  time  have  secured?  It  is  replied  that  these 
extra  wages  are  needed  for  more  comfort,  better 
houses,  more  abundant  food,  more  of  the  joys  of 
life,  such  as  the  employers  themselves  have,  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  it  was  precisely  because 
many  of  their  employers  were  willing  to  deny  them- 
selves extra  comforts,  to  work  early  and  late,  and 
to  save  to  the  very  verge  of  parsimony  that  they 
were  able  to  lay  the  foundations  of  their  fortunes. 
Such  far-sightedness  and  such  self-control  furnish 
the  best  lines  of  cleavage  among  men.  In  England, 
in  three  years  of  plenty  in  the  seventies,  wages  were 
increased  annually  $200,000,000.  That  made 
$600,000,000  for  the  three  years,  but  $600,000,000 
was  just  the  amount  of  gold  in  circulation  in  Great 
Britain  at  that  time.  Did  the  workingmen  by  a 
common  impulse,  fired  by  a  great  ambition,  save 
this  $200,000,000  a  year?  Did  they  change  the 
savings  into  gold?  Did  they  control  the  banks 
and  dictate  terms  to  financiers  ?  Did  they  throttle 
the    money    changers    of    Lombard    Street    and 


THE    IMPROVED    MAN"  195 

Threadneedle  Street?  By  no  means.  If  these 
things  had  been  done,  the  past  thirty  years  would 
have  seen  a  new  England,  and  the  whole  world 
would  have  been  filled  with  the  songs  of  the  great 
achievements  that  had  at  last  been  wrought  by  the 
working  classes.  They  would  have  superannuated 
the  aristocracy;  they  would  have  swept  out  age- 
worn  traditions  and  institutions;  they  would  have 
come  into  their  own  empire.  The  working  people 
of  England  earned  $200,000,000  extra  per  annum, 
and  the  sad  companion  fact  is  that  the  drink  bill 
of  England  during  each  of  those  three  years  in- 
creased just  $200,000,000.  All  the  increase  of  that 
bill  did  not  come  from  the  working  classes,  but 
enough  of  it  came  from  those  classes  to  leave  the 
argument  still  sound  that  what  is  wanted  is  not  so 
much  better  opportunity  as  the  capacity  to  make 
wiser  use  of  such  opportunities  as  men  have.  In  the 
United  States  we  spend  about  $1,200,000,000  a 
year  in  drink.  This  discussion  is  not  in  the  inter- 
ests of  the  temperance  cause;  this  is  an  economic 
discussion.  I  am  not  arguing  that  men  shall  be- 
come total  abstainers,  but  I  simply  put  this 
question :  Would  it  not  be  worth  while  for  the  work- 
ingmen  of  America  to  take  from  that  drink  bill, 
say,  $250,000,000  a  year  and  put  it  into  an  Indus- 


196  K  THE   INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

trial  fund  for  the  building  up  of  factories  and  the 
development  of  industrial  enterprises  owned  by 
workingmen,  managed  by  workingmen,  and  the 
profits  of  which  should  be  received  by  workingmen  ? 

The  first  need  of  the  workingman,  therefore,  is 
an  increase  of  working  capital,  because  that  means 
increased  demand  for  labour.  Institutions  man- 
aged by  labour  and  in  its  interests  would  set  the 
standard  for  wages  and  for  services.  As  soon  as 
workingmen  can  own  their  own  plants  to  any  con- 
siderable degree  the  rates  of  interest  wiU  fall, 
because  it  will  mean  that  labour  has  become  more 
important  than  tools.  It  may  be  replied  that  the 
history  of  co-operation  on  the  whole  is  not  very 
encouraging.  Of  course  there  have  been  highly 
successful  examples  in  commercial  enterprises,  and 
occasional  successes  in  manufactures,  but  on  the 
whole,  labour  which  has  been  directed  rather  than 
self-directed  has  usually  proved  the  most  success- 
ful. Very  well ;  whatever  is  most  successful  is  for 
the  interests  of  all  the  parties  to  the  economic 
transaction,  but  just  as  soon  as  the  workingmen 
have  the  social  capacity,  they  can  accomplish  the 
social  results. 

This  brings  us  to  another  doctrine  of  tremendous 
force,  and  that  is  the  doctrine  of  the  economic 


THE   IMPEOVED   MAN  197 

value  of  the  virtues.  This  splendid  dream  of  co- 
operation can  only  become  possible  when  there  is 
widely  diffused  intelligence,  but  there  must  also  be 
a  widely  diffused  virtue.  Great  responsibilities  re- 
quire great  wisdom,  but  great  trusts  demand  a 
high  sense  of  honour.  The  business  man  who  owns 
his  own  business  may  be  depended  upon  to  use  his 
self-interest  as  a  safeguard  to  that  business,  but 
the  business  man  who  manages  a  business  for  hi3 
fellowmen  and  in  their  interest  as  well  as  his  own, 
can  only  be  relied  upon  when  self-interest  has  been 
reinforced  by  a  very  high  sense  of  honour.  Con- 
fidence is  not  alone  the  basis  of  credit;  it  is  the 
final  element  without  which  social  organisation 
becomes  impossible.  The  new  race  of  men  will 
make  a  new  world.  The  world  is  rich  enough;  it 
will  bear  sufficient  harvests  to  provide  for  the  mul- 
tiplied race  for  at  least  a  thousand  years  to  come 
by  present  methods.  It  has  enough  material  for 
all  kinds  of  commodities  required  by  our  present 
civilisation.  It  will  doubtless  make  visible  the 
glorious  dreams  of  greater  men  and  women  in  a 
greater  day  yet  to  be  born.  The  ordinary  relations 
between  man  and  man,  as  at  present  defined  in 
laws  and  guaranteed  by  society,  have  been  worked 
out  through  thousands  of  years  of  struggle  and 


198     THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

pain.  These  primary  institutions  doubtless  rep" 
resent  the  highest  results  of  human  wisdom.  What 
is  wanted  is  a  little  better  kind  of  man  to  take 
advantage  of  this  good  world  and  achieve  for  him- 
self the  noble  destiny  which  is  the  final  justification 
of  all  corporate  human  effort. 

Whence  shall  we  gather  strength  for  conscience, 
capacity  for  self-control,  a  deeper  sense  of  brother- 
hood, and  a  larger  view  of  life?  These  great  in- 
terests belong  to  a  special  department  of  our  human 
inheritance,  which  we  describe  by  the  name  of 
religion.  Above  the  kingdom  of  man  there  rules 
the  kingdom  of  God.  Deeper  than  all  human  laws 
are  those  divine  laws  founded  upon  divine  justice. 
It  is  only  when  men  have  consented  to  obey  God 
that  they  can  be  trusted  to  serve  their  fellows.  It 
is  only  when  the  feeble  human  years  stand  out 
against  the  great  background  of  eternity  that  hu- 
man life  grows  great.  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the 
peasant-prophet,  companion,  and  brother  of  work- 
ingmen,  proclaims  the  kingdom  of  God  as  the  only 
solution  of  social  problems.  Eeligion  is  the  com- 
mon interest  of  all  men.  It  preserves  the  sanctity 
of  the  home ;  it  provides  for  right  relations  between 
parents  and  children.  It  furnishes  honour  for 
business  and  security  for  the  state. 


THE    IMPROVED    MAN  199 

Eailroad  officials  are  anxious  that  their  men 
should  be  sober  and  industrious,  but  they  are  not 
so  anxious  but  that  the  greed  for  gain  permits 
them  to  debauch  both  their  employees  and  the  com- 
munity by  Sunday  excursions,  which  have  neither 
a  sound  economic  basis  nor  any  social  excuse.  A 
street  railway  company  whose  largest  asset  is  in 
the  good  order  and  good  faith  of  the  community 
has  no  hesitation  in  demoralising  men  by  employ- 
ing them  to  work  on  Sunday  to  dig  tunnels  and 
lay  railway  tracks.  Employers  are  anxious  that 
their  workpeople  should  be  sound  in  character,  and 
faithful  in  their  service,  but  they  set  them  the 
example  of  playing  golf  and  riding  automobiles 
at  the  time  of  church  service.  Workingmen  are 
anxious  that  ministers  and  churches  should  be  in- 
terested in  their  interests  and  should  dare  to  say 
brave  words  in  their  behalf,  but  when  the  sound 
of  the  brave  words  has  died  upon  the  air  they  turn 
their  backs  upon  the  churches  until  some  other 
favourable  opportunity  comes  to  advance  their 
economic  interests.  They  desert  the  altars  of  re- 
ligion for  the  cheap  pleasures  of  theatres  or  de- 
basing summer  resorts.  The  great  prizes  of  life 
are  not  cheap;  men  must  be  willing  to  pay  the 
price.    They  cannot  have  the  virtues  which  religion, 


200     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

and  religion  alone,  is  able  to  nourish  unless  they 
will  give  their  hearts,  their  thoughts,  their  love, 
their  life,  to  God,  the  father  of  us  all.  The  doctrine 
of  the  brotherhood  of  man  is  a  beautiful  dream, 
but  it  remains  forever  the  baseless  fabric  of  a 
dream  unless  it  is  founded  upon  that  deepest  of 
all  realities,  the  fatherhood  of  God.  To  better  our 
social  condition  we  need  close  thought,  careful 
study,  a  diligent  application  of  the  best  methods, 
but  at  the  last,  without  faith  in  the  eternal  founda- 
tions, without  reverent  recognition  of  the  moral 
law,  without  a  great  throne  to  which  human  hearts 
and  lives  are  accountable,  there  can  be  no  final 
adjustment  of  social  difficulties,  and  all  earthly 
wisdom  is  but  as  sounding  brass  and  clanging 
cymbals. 


X 

WOULD    SOCIALISM    DO? 

Idealistic  Socialism,  Political  Socialism,  and 
Economic  Socialism — Exploitation  of  the  Work- 
ingman — State  Ownership  of  Means  of  Pro- 
duction— Functions  of  the  State — Socialism 
Ineffective — Attack  upon  the  Family — Attack 
upon  the  Nation. 

Every  proposed  change  in  the  social  or  economic 
order  may  well  base  itself  on  the  general  proposi- 
tion that  this  world  is  not  so  good  a  place  as  it 
ought  to  be.  There  is  altogether  too  much  poverty, 
ignorance,  and  crime ;  there  are  too  many  children 
who  are  maimed  from  the  cradle  in  body  and  soul ; 
there  are  too  many  lives  which  are  cheated  of  de- 
velopment, and  too  many  men  and  women  evidently 
intended  for  happiness  and  usefulness  who  are  cut 
off  in  the  midst  of  their  days.  Sensitive  souls  who 
feel  these  truths  are  ready  for  almost  any  program 
which  promises  the  enrichment  of  human  life. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  the  present  evils,  nor  does 
it  very  much  relieve  the  situation  to  say  that  the 
evils  are  less  now  than  ever  before  in  the  world's 

201 


202      THE    INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

history.  This  may  be  true,  but  it  does  not  satisfy 
those  who  think  that  the  working  out  of  a  better 
world  through  struggle  and  pain  is  altogether  too 
slow  a  process  for  those  who  would  see  the  world 
righted  in  their  own  time. 

Anarchists  and  socialists  are  at  one  in  the 
sketch  of  general  conditions,  but  they  differ  as  to 
the  remedy.  Bakunine  represents  anarchism  when 
he  says  tersely,  "  The  best  governments  are  the 
worst."  This  Russian  nihilist  voices  the  opinion 
of  those  who  believe  that  by  a  dissolution  of  the 
political  order  all  ancient  privileges  would  be  de- 
stroyed, and  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  order  voluntary 
co-operation  would  furnish  all  the  social  bonds 
needed  to  secure  the  perfect  life. 

The  trouble  about  understanding  socialism  is 
that  every  professed  leader  has  the  liberty  of  de- 
fining his  creed  to  suit  himself,  but  there  are 
at  least  three  distinct  kinds  of  socialism,  ideal- 
istic socialism,  political  socialism,  and  economic 
socialism. 

From  the  days  of  Plato  down  to  the  present 
philosophers  have  dreamed  of  a  perfect  social 
order,  and  practical  saints  have  made  an  effort  to 
realise  it.  Sir  Thomas  More  in  the  name  of  his 
hanpy  island  has  furnished  an  adiective  which  de- 


WOULD    SOCIALISM    DO?  203 

scribes  the  ideal  commonwealth,  but  which  also  is 
used  to  characterise  every  impossible  plan  of  social 
amelioration.  Sir  Thomas  discovered  Utopia. 
This  idealistic  socialism,  which  in  its  modern  form 
is  the  child  of  the  French  revolution,  characterised 
the  English  and  French  theories  of  the  last  century. 
This  form  of  socialism,  however,  which  proposed 
an  equality  of  wealth  and  communism  in  distribu- 
tion, is  practically  without  any  serious  support  in 
our  generation.  It  is  thus  picturesquely  disposed 
of  by  Robert  Blatchford,  the  English  radical : 

"  Socialism  is  not  a  wild  dream  of  a  happy  land 
where  the  apples  will  drop  off  the  trees  into  our 
open  mouths,  the  fish  come  out  of  the  rivers  and 
fry  themselves  for  dinner,  and  the  looms  turn  out 
ready-made  suits  of  velvet  with  golden  buttons 
without  the  trouble  of  coaling  the  engine.  Neither 
is  it  the  dream  of  a  nation  of  stained-glass  angels 
who  never  say  damn,  who  always  love  their 
neighbours  better  than  themselves,  and  who  never 
need  to  work  unless  they  wish  to.'* 

The  second  form  of  socialism,  the  organisation  of 
a  political  party,  differs  in  its  program  according 
to  the  country  in  which  it  exists,  but  it  has  one 


204     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

characteristic  in  every  country:  It  is  distinctly 
opportunist.  That  is,  it  proposes  to  take  up  any 
question  of  the  hour  in  which  there  is  the  line  of 
least  resistance  toward  success.  In  Germany  it 
will  oppose  pensions  for  workingmen  because  that 
is  a  support  to  the  present  system  of  competition, 
and  in  England  it  will  seek  to  abolish  the  House 
of  Lords.  It  will  assail  privilege  and  laws  for  the 
protection  of  property  at  every  possible  point;  it 
will  make  the  burdens  of  capital  as  heavy  as  they 
can  be  made,  and  will  embarrass  as  far  as  possible 
the  administration  of  existing  institutions. 

Economic  socialism  has  for  its  leading  exponent 
Karl  Marx,  who,  in  his  "  Capital,"  which  has  been 
called  "  The  Bible  of  Socialism,"  presents  the  doc- 
trine in  full  form.  The  theories  of  Karl  Marx 
were  logical  in  that  they  carried  to  resistless  con- 
clusions the  doctrine  of  the  wage  fund  presented  by 
English  economists,  and  developed  by  Lassalle  as 
the  "  iron  law  of  wages."  Briefly,  the  doctrine  is 
that  the  wage  fund  cannot  be  increased  under  a 
competitive  system  beyond  the  point  of  the  bare 
maintenance  of  the  labourer  and  his  family.  Both 
Eiccardo  and  Malthus  furnish  some  foundation  for 
this  doctrine.  The  doctrine  of  Malthus  in  the 
"  Principle  of  Population  "  would  lead  us  to  believe 


WOULD    SOCIALISM    DO?  205 

that  tHe  workingman's  family  would  increase  faster 
than  it  could  be  economically  possible  for  his  wages 
to  increase,  and  consequently  bare  maintenance  is  a 
necessity  from  the  vital  point  of  view,  as  the  teach- 
ing of  Eiccardo  Avould  lead  us  to  believe  it  to  be 
from  the  economic  point  of  view.  Of  course,  the 
doctrine  of  Malthus,  if  fully  expounded,  would  be 
even  more  crushing  against  socialism  than  almost 
any  other  theory.  But  economic  socialism  teaches 
that  the  labourer  is  cheated  of  the  due  rewards  of 
toil.  At  this  point  all  socialists  will  agree  with 
Prudhon  that  "  property  is  theft."  In  a  recent 
number  of  the  Century  Magazine,  Professor  F.  H. 
Giddings  intimates  that  the  crucial  question  of  the 
whole  subject  is  whether  or  not  the  workingman 
is  exploited.  Karl  Marx  and  all  his  economic  fol- 
lowers would  assert  that  he  is,  meaning  by  exploi- 
tation that  the  workingman  has  wages  to  maintain 
him  at  the  lowest  possible  standard  of  living  and 
that  the  large  surplus  value  arising  from  his  la- 
bour goes  to  the  employer.  Adam  Smith  is  quoted 
by  Morrison  Davidson,  perhaps  the  ablest  socialist 
writer  in  recent  years,  as  furnishing  the  true 
economic  basis  when  he  says,  "  The  product  of 
labour  is  the  natural  recompense  or  wages  of  la- 
bour," Mr.  Davidson  wishing  his  readers  to  under- 


206     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

stand  by  this  that  the  total  result  of  a  clay's  work, 
without  regard  to  interest  or  superintendence, 
ought  to  be  the  property  of  the  man  who  works 
with  his  hands. 

How  does  economic  socialism  propose  to 
secure  its  ends?  The  principal  means  of  pro- 
duction and  distribution  must  become  the  prop- 
erty of  the  state.  This  includes  lands,  mines, 
railways,  workshops,  and  factories.  The  powei:  of 
money  is  to  be  destroyed  in  some  way  or  other, 
either  by  abolishing  money  entirely  and  filling  its 
functions  by  other  means  or  certainly  by  abolish- 
ing that  iniquitous  thing,  interest  on  money,  for 
it  is  interest  that  enables  the  idle  rich  to  live  upon 
the  labour  of  the  working  poor.  Mr.  Spargo,  an 
American  writer,  in  his  recent  work  on  Socialism, 
proposes  that  private  production  shall  be  allowed 
in  certain  industries  not  specified,  together  with 
co-operative  production,  and  finally  production  and 
exchange  by  the  state.  Mr.  Spargo  proposes  to 
preserve  competition,  notwithstanding  that  is  the 
bane  of  all  socialists.  Evidently  he  fears  to  trust 
the  state  to  carry  on  all  the  work,  and  wishes  to 
safeguard  the  new  state  by  allowing  competition 
between  three  forms  of  production.  Most  modern 
socialistic  writers  are  very  vague  in  discussing  the 


WOULD    SOCIALISM    DO?  207 

structure  and  the  function  of  the  socialistic  state. 
It  is  time  enough  to  settle  what  that  state  shall  be 
when  the  majority  of  electors  shall  be  content  to 
accept  the  doctrine  that  the  workingman  is  ex- 
ploited and  the  cure  for  the  exploitation  is  in  the 
ownership  by  the  state  of  the  means  of  production, 
including  land. 

Economic  socialism  is  modern  socialism  in  the 
form  in  which  it  is  attracting  the  attention  and 
support  of  a  large  number  of  persons  in  all  civil- 
ised countries.  It  rejects  the  doctrine  of  early 
communism  in  regard  to  the  distribution  of  wealth, 
"  to  each  according  to  his  need,"  and  substitutes 
for  it  the  later  doctrine,  "  to  each  according  to  hia 
labour,"  Under  this  theory,  in  the  new  state  men 
will  decide  the  length  of  their  daj^'s  work,  and 
some  socialists  hope  they  will  also  decide  the  nature 
of  their  tasks.  It  is  proposed  to  have  a  time-book 
system  instead  of  a  money  system.  A  man  goes 
and  works,  it  may  be  four  hours,  it  may  be  six,  at 
same  task  and  at  the  close  of  his  work  in  his  time 
book  the  superintendent  or  foreman  gives  him 
credit  for  the  amount  of  labour  done.  Commodi- 
ties are  marked  at  so  much  labour  rather  than  so 
much  money.  When  the  workman  desires  an 
article  from  the  public  stores,  he  is  charged  in 


208     THE   INDUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

his  time  book  the  amount  of  labour  which  the 
article  is  supposed  to  represent.  Disagreeable 
tasks  and  unpleasant  trades  are  to  be  maintained 
by  giving  a  higher  time  credit  for  the  same  length 
of  labour  than  in  the  more  pleasant  occupations. 
Under  this  beautiful  system  it  is  supposed  that  a 
man  may  be  able  to  retire  on  full  pay  at  forty-five, 
or  fifty  at  the  latest,  and  spend  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  the  gentle  occupation  of  philosopher  or 
statesman. 

It  is  precisely  with  modern  economic  socialism 
that  the  modern  labour  union  has  its  controversy. 
The  American  Federation  of  Labour  has  always 
voted  down  socialism  by  a  large  majority  in  its 
national  meetings.  It  seems  to  have  done  so  rather 
by  instinct  than  by  any  clearly  defined  and  fully 
stated  philosophy  of  the  subject,  but  the  labour 
unions  have  essentially  a  conflict  with  the  theory 
of  socialism.  The  labour  unions  assert  equally 
with  the  socialist  or  the  anarchist,  that  for  the 
most  part  in  human  history  the  production  of 
wealth  has  been  accompanied  by  the  exploitation 
of  the  workingman.  The  wage  system  supplants 
the  slavery  system  because,  on  the  whole,  it  is 
more  profitable  to  the  employer,  but  the  labour 
unions  recognise  the  importance  of  the  captains  of 


WOULD    SOCIALISM    DO?  209 

industry,  and  instead  of  being  used  by  these  cap- 
tains, propose  to  make  them  their  servants.  The 
labour  unions  propose  by  combination  and  by 
the  sale  of  collective  labour  to  prevent  in  the 
future  the  exploitation  of  the  workingman.  They 
propose  to  preserve  whatever  is  valuable  in  the 
present  social  order,  and  to  secure  adequate  re- 
wards. They  deny  that  socialism  is  the  only 
method  and  doubt  if  it  is  even  a  possible  method 
by  which  their  wrongs  may  be  righted.  The  labour 
unions  not  only  hold  this  theory,  but  they  have 
abundantly  proved  the  soundness  of  their  position 
by  their  recent  history.  So  far  from  the  working- 
man  being  universally  exploited  there  are  thou- 
sands of  them  who  are  now  receiving  probably  as 
high  wages  as  the  production  in  their  respective 
crafts  will  permit.  The  captains  of  industry  should 
see  that  at  this  point  the  labour  unions  are  a 
valuable  ally.  Wages  in  any  line  cannot  be  any 
greater  than  the  average  success  in  those  lines  of 
industry  will  allow.  The  captain  of  industry  is  a 
man,  however,  who  by  reason  of  his  force  and  wis- 
dom is  able  to  secure  more  than  the  average  success, 
and  therefore  the  greatest  possible  conflict  of  labour 
unions  in  the  matter  of  wages  and  hours  will  al- 
ways leave  the  real  captains  of  industry  in  a  safe 


210      THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

position.  ISTo  thoughful  person  can  have  either 
sympathy  or  patience  with  the  use  of  socialism  as 
a  bugbear  by  the  great  modern  pirates  of  finance. 
It  may  as  well  be  bluntly  said  that  modern  society 
will  at  last  prevent  one  brute  hand  from  finding 
its  way  into  the  pockets  of  the  multitude  that  the 
owner  of  the  hand  may  possess  uncounted  wealth 
while  the  multitude  suffer  incredible  distress.  Not 
all  the  army  of  the  defeated,  not  all  the  poor 
scholars  and  dreamers,  nor  all  the  revolutionary 
politicians  and  demagogues  taken  together,  preach 
half  so  effectively  the  doctrine  of  socialism  as  that 
doctrine  is  propagated  by  these  pirates  themselves. 
If  ever  socialism  comes,  it  will  come  because  a 
few  men  are  strong  enough  to  defeat  the  claims 
of  social  justice  prescribed  and  enforced  by  the 
state. 

The  quest  of  first  importance  in  the  study  of 
this  subject  is  to  discover  what  is  the  true  function 
of  the  state.  The  history  of  institutions  shows 
that  it  is  by  no  means  a  closed  question.  In  primi- 
tive savagery  the  state  itself  was  vague  in  form 
and  in  function  and  only  took  on  special  leader- 
ship in  times  of  special  emergency.  When  the 
primitive  social  group  must  fight  or  would  migrate 
it  must  have  a  leader.    Private  disputes  were  left 


WOULD    SOCIALISM   DO?  211 

to  private  individuals;  the  existence  of  property 
was  so  rudimentary  as  to  neither  ask  for  nor 
deserve  the  care  of  the  whole  group,  but  as  Loria, 
in  "  The  Economic  Foundations  of  Society,"  and 
other  modern  writers  have  shown,  the  development 
of  property  has  been  the  organising  cause  of  the 
development  of  social  institutions.  It  is  here  that 
it  seems  to  me  the  weakness  of  the  socialistic  argu- 
ment is  most  manifest.  The  primary  savage  with 
only  the  rudiments  of  property  was  naturally  an 
anarchist.  All  institutions  were  practically  forms 
of  voluntary  co-operation.  When  land  had  no 
scarcity  value  because  the  world  was  large  and  men 
were  few,  the  co-operative  labour  value  of  the  group 
led  to  public  ownership  of  land  and  a  greater  or 
less  degree  of  socialism.  As  society  became  dis- 
tinctly organised  and  more  highly  developed,  as 
social  groups  became  larger  and  their  interests 
more  complex,  the  evolution  led  naturally  and 
directly  to  individual  ownership.  By  the  processes 
of  the  past  and  by  the  general  law  of  evolution  wo 
may  expect  that  this  individualism  will  pass  into 
higher  unities,  but  only  in  so  far  as  the  individual- 
ism itself  is  definite  and  coherent.  With  the  de- 
velopment of  property  the  state  itself  has  taken 
on  more  numerous  functions,  and  found  for  itself 


212     THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

new  duties.  The  changes  of  function  between  local 
government  and  general  government  have  been 
particularly  marked.  The  municipality  used  to 
make  treaties,  coin  money,  and  even  declare  war, 
but  it  had  no  sewer  system,  no  public  streets,  no 
adequate  fire  protection,  and,  in  short,  did  almost 
none  of  the  business  now  carried  on  by  the  modern 
city.  Local  government  has  been  robbed  of  many 
of  its  functions  to  enrich  the  general  government, 
but  meantime  local  government  has  discovered  for 
itself  new  duties.  Both  local  and  national  govern- 
ments care  for  sanitation,  the  public  order,  and  the 
public  welfare  in  a  larger  and  more  definite  way 
than  the  ancient  states.  It  is  probable  that  we 
have  by  no  means  reached  the  limit  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  state.  It  has  assumed  the  right  to 
regulate  the  church  and  the  famil}'-,  and  has  be- 
come the  supreme  institution  of  modern  times. 
[Whatever  can  best  be  done  by  the  whole  people 
together  must  at  last  be  done  through  the  state. 
But  here  again  it  must  be  remembered  that  power 
alone  is  not  sufficient  for  the  performance  of  du- 
ties. It  requires  self -consciousness  as  well  as 
power.  Public  honour  is  as  essential  in  carrying 
on  the  functions  of  government  as  private  honour 
is  essential  in  the  relations  between  individuals. 


WOULD    SOCIALISM    DO?  313 

Let  any  country  beware  of  increasing  the  functions 
of  government  beyond  the  moral  capacity  of  its 
people. 

The  functions  of  the  state  must  always  be  open 
to  discussion  and  to  readjustment,  but  of  one  func- 
tion there  can  be  no  question.  It  is  the  first  duty 
of  the  modern  state  to  secure  justice  in  the  rela- 
tions of  its  citizens.  It  must  curb  the  strong  and 
protect  the  weak.  It  must  secure  private  rights, 
but  it  must  not  allow  private  rights  to  infringe 
upon  the  common  good.  The  management  of  busi- 
ness through  corporations  is,  it  seems  to  me,  too 
well  established  and  too  valuable  to  be  given  up, 
and  those  large  organisations  which  are  sometimes 
called  "  trust  corporations  "  will  stay  as  a  per- 
manent organ  of  economic  life  if  they  are  found 
economical ;  whether  the  machine  be  made  of  iron 
or  is  simply  a  form  of  human  association,  that 
machine  which  does  the  work  with  the  least  labour 
and  the  best  results  will  at  last  be  used.  To  em- 
barrass effective  production  is  both  unnecessary  and 
unwise.  But  trust  corporations  must  be  supervised 
by  the  state,  and  with  the  new  developments  and 
new  complexities  in  the  modern  industrial  world, 
there  are  new  functions  for  the  state  wliich  must 
be  honestly  accepted  and  thoroughly  performed. 


214     THE    IXDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

The  state  can  serve  neither  individual  nor  class 
except  incidentally.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to 
serve  the  whole  people  and  to  secure  justice  for  all 
its  citizens. 

I  am  opposed  to  socialism  precisely  because  I  do 
not  think  it  can  remedy  the  evils  which  we  all 
recognise.  The  vagueness  of  the  socialistic  state 
is  not  an  accident.  It  is  because  no  theor}'  of  such 
a  state  can  be  worked  out  that  will  be  satisfactory. 
Socialist  writers  tell  us  that  under  the  new  order 
men  may  choose  their  occupations  and  the  length 
of  their  day's  work.  It  must  be  plain  that  no 
great  industries  can  be  maintained  in  any  such 
fashion.  The  success  of  any  modern  factory  de- 
pends upon  the  due  proportion  of  workers  in  the 
different  departments.  It  is  one  vast  machine. 
Each  part  must  be  in  its  place  and  each  factor  must 
perform  its  service  systematically  with  all  the  rest. 
Under  socialism,  where  the  state  possesses  the 
means  of  production,  some  authority  must  decide 
what  work  shall  be  done,  by  whom  it  shall  be  done, 
and  how  it  shall  be  done.  Unless  there  is  such  an 
authority,  it  is  chaos.  There  are  only  two  ways  in 
which  leadership  can  be  exercised:  one,  by  the 
state  itself  through  organised  bureaus.  This  would 
promise  the  development  of  a  caste  system  the 


WOULD    SOCIALISM    DO?  215 

worst  the  world  has  ever  known.  Anyone  who  has 
studied  the  development  of  bureaus  in  such  gov- 
ernments as  are  especially  dependent  upon  them, 
for  example  in  France,  will  have  data  for  deciding 
what  would  happen  in  case  these  bureaus  were 
multiplied  and  extended  to  cover  the  whole  life  of 
the  people.  If  the  management  is  not  vested  in 
the  state,  it  must  be  vested  in  the  group  of  workers 
in  any  department.  That  would  promise  manage- 
ment by  the  general  average  of  intelligence,  and 
honesty  without  the  spur  and  prudence  of  self- 
interest.  It  is  easy  to  be  seen  that  such  an  average 
would  not  rise  to  the  highest  wisdom,  and  conse- 
quently production,  instead  of  being  increased, 
would  be  checked. 

But  economic  socialism  does  not  promise  to  pre- 
serve the  methods  by  which  the  industrial  world 
has  always  been  enriched.  That  method  is  special 
reward  for  special  service.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  our  own  country,  both  in  the  State  and  in  the 
nation,  has  been  very  reckless  in  giving  up  the 
ownership  of  its  natural  resources,  and  yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  can  be  no  question  that  labour 
has  been  stimulated  by  this  policy,  and  the  indus- 
trial community  vastly  enriched.  We  fasten  our 
eyes  upon  the  successes,  but  we  do  not  remember 


216      THE    INDUSTEIAL    CONFLICT 

the  failures.  Take  the  department  of  mining,  for 
example.  The  one  prospector  who  makes  a  rich 
discovery  and  maybe  gains  fabulous  wealth,  we 
know  and  envy,  but  the  thousands  of  prospectors 
who  find  nothing  but  disappointment  and  broken 
hopes  are  easily  forgotten.  There  are  plenty  of 
people  in  the  mining  districts  of  this  country  who 
will  tell  you  that  more  money  has  been  lost  than 
has  been  made  in  developing  mining  properties. 
We  fasten  our  eyes  upon  the  one  successful  man 
who  by  some  fortunate  invention  has  gained  large 
wealth;  we  forget  the  ten  thousand  experimenters 
who,  hoping  against  hope,  have  failed  of  any  com- 
mercial success.  Socialism  might  do  fairly  well 
as  a  form  of  organisation  for  a  state  of  society 
that  hopes  for  no  progress ;  but  that  progress  which 
depends  upon  the  development  of  individual 
strength  and  capacity,  the  concentration  of  indi- 
vidual energy  and  the  best  achievements  of  in- 
dividual sacrifice,  must  promise  special  rewards  for 
special  service.  Socialism,  therefore,  will  not  right 
the  wrongs  which  we  recognise,  because  it  does  not 
promise  to  make  production  cheaper  and  more 
abundant.  Nor  does  it  promise  to  furnish  incentive 
to  the  individual  that  will  stimulate  all  his  powers 
and  provide  for  social  and  industrial  progress. 


WOULD    SOCIALISM   DO?  217 

Socialism  rests  upon  the  evolution,  however,  of 
the  relation  of  the  individual  to  institutions.  It 
proceeds  upon  the  assumption  that  perfect  institu- 
tions will  make  perfect  men.  The  whole  history 
of  the  world  is  an  argument  for  the  contrary  thesis. 
The  wiser  and  better  men  are,  the  nobler  will  be 
their  institutions,  and  social  groups  have  always 
had  not  only  as  good  institutions  as  they  deserved, 
but  they  have  had  from  the  beginning  institutions 
which  have  served  them  better  than  better  institu- 
tions could  have  done. 

The  kingdom  of  God  in  politics,  in  economics,  in 
morals,  and  in  religion  depends  at  last  upon  the 
repentance  and  regeneration  of  the  individual. 
Noble  men  may  always  be  trusted  to  live  nobly. 
Through  its  faith  in  institutions  socialism  ignores 
the  value  and  necessity  of  educational  and  ethical 
processes. 

Socialism  makes  an  assault  upon  the  family.  I 
do  not  pause  to  quote  the  numerous  utterances  of 
socialists  upon  the  relations  of  the  sexes.  Morrison 
Davidson  declares  that  in  the  new  state  the  chil- 
dren will  belong  primarily  to  the  mother.  I  do  not 
charge  upon  socialists  what  many  have — that  their 
doctrine  is  essentially  immoral.  The  ground  upon 
which  socialism  must  be  regarded  as  an  attack  upon 


218     THE    IIS'DUSTRIAL    CONFLICT 

the  family  is  manifestly  economic.  Under  the 
doctrine  of  private  property  the  home  is  the  eco- 
nomic unit  of  society.  This  has  developed  monog- 
amy as  the  marriage  form,  and  it  has  steadily 
developed  the  economic  protection  of  women  and 
children.  State  ownership  substitutes  group  prop- 
erty for  family  property.  The  greatest  incentive 
the  individual  man  has  for  industry  and  thrift  is 
the  care  of  his  own  family.  When  the  care  of  the 
family  no  longer  devolves  upon  him  in  the  same 
sense,  to  that  extent  his  incentives  are  weakened; 
and  if  it  be  true,  as  socialists  themselves  usually 
affirm,  that  the  foundations  of  society  are  economic, 
then  it  will  follow  that  if  the  economic  foundations 
of  the  family  are  dissolved,  the  family  itself  will  be 
destroyed.  We  have  heard  far  too  much  already 
of  the  economic  equality  of  the  sexes,  and  far  too 
little  of  the  vast  importance  of  the  monogamic 
family  as  the  greatest  culture  conquest  in  human 
history. 

Finally,  socialism  is  an  assault  upon  the  nation. 
It  is  essentially  anti-patriotic.  It  asserts  its  kin- 
ship with  all  men  in  a  communion  of  sympathies 
which  is  world-wide.  Those  people  who  love  every- 
body in  such  an  effusive  manner  that  they  love  no 
one  better  than  another,  in  reality  never  love  at  all. 


WOULD    SOCIALISM    DO?  219 

Home,  friends,  country,  are  not  words  alone.  Tliey 
are  means  of  self-expression  and  of  self-develop- 
ment. It  is  by  the  privacy  of  home  against  home 
that  the  security  of  the  personal  life  is  assured.  It 
is  the  men  who  love  their  own  country  best  who 
may  be  trusted  to  admire  most  what  is  good  in 
every  other  country,  and  to  seek  to  incorporate  it 
in  their  own  institutions;  it  is  those  who  appreci- 
ate the  value  of  definite  and  personal  kinship  who 
can  be  trusted  to  sympathise  most  keenly  with  the 
brotherhood  that  is  world-wide. 


THE   END 


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